Manufacturing Talks
There are millions of cool stories in manufacturing. Your host, Jim Vinoski, helps share them by talking to the people who are making them happen. Manufacturing is where the rubber meets the road. There's no hiding. You're either making good products people will buy for enough to keep you in business, or you're not. Meet the amazing folks who thrive in that survival-of-the-fittest world.
Manufacturing Talks
Green cement that's economically competitive? Ryan Gilliam from Fortera says yes!
Too many emissions reduction-driven or otherwise environmentally friendly new methods of manufacturing simply cost too much and require too much new equipment and plant disruption, so they rarely fly without big dollops of government pork.
That's why it was such a great time chatting with Ryan Gilliam for Episode 120. His company, Fortera Corporation, has a modified way to make cement (the "glue," as he puts it, for concrete) that not only cuts CO2 emissions, but increases yield with equipment that bolts right onto existing cement-making processes and a production method that's economically competitive with existing ones.
Here are some highlights:
- 6:30: why CO2 emissions are so high in how we make cement today
- 9:15: how Fortera's new production materials fit right in with ASTM regulations
- 10:15: how Fortera makes the process more efficient by weight of production at the kiln
- 11:00: the new process achieves 70% CO2 reduction even using existing fossil fuel power
- 14:15: the new process is economically competitive even with capital and operating expenses figured in
- 22:30: current blends are comparable to existing cement in flow and set times
- 26:00: the ideal future - zero net CO2 cement production
Tune in and here all the geeky details! This is some really good stuff.