US-based Furno, a start-up aiming to mitigate climate change through its novel combustion technology, has launched its end-to-end cement production unit, the Furno Brick. According to the company, the Furno Brick is the world’s first modular and carbon-neutral cement plant that scales in demand, dramatically reducing the barrier to entry and unlocking local or small-scale cement production.
Furno’s novel kiln and combustion technology allows for efficient cement production using gas-based versus solid fuels, significantly lowering CO2 emissions and eliminating nitrogen oxides (NOx) and sulphur oxides (SOx) entirely. Its innovative design allows cement producers to build cement plants that are compact and cost efficient, adding incremental capacity as needed.
“Roughly 70-80 per cent of the costs involved in constructing a cement plant are from labour and installation alone, with the remaining 20-30 per cent of expenditures going to custom equipment often sourced from international suppliers. The Furno Brick helps mitigate these costs by enabling pre-fabrication and standardisation, thus drawing down production, installation and permitting expenses,” explains Furno.
“The Furno Brick operates at greater than 80 per cent thermal efficiency, doubling what standard cement plants are able to achieve. While conventional cement plants require four very large and mechanically-distinct stages to produce cement (preheating, calcining, sintering and cooling), Furno’s reactor – coupled with its novel combustion technology – combines four stages into one compact reactor, dramatically reducing cost and the carbon as well as physical footprint.”
Furno has recently completed an oversubscribed US$6.5m seed funding round, led by Energy Capital Ventures (ECV). “It was immediately clear to us that Furno had the best team, technology, business model and competitive advantages. Furno’s game changing ‘mini-kiln’ innovation enables a level of decarbonisation and market adoption that is in a class all of its own,” said Vic Pascucci, managing general partner and co-founder of ECV. The funding will enable Furno to continue to scale its technology, provide more customers with samples to gather feedback, and aid in the development of the Furno Brick.
