Material Evolution, the start-up aiming to decarbonise cement, announced today that its “ultra-low” carbon cement plant is now operational in Wrexham. The Mevo A1 Production Facility produced its first batch of ultra-low carbon cement in October 2024, on schedule and just 8 months after construction work began onsite. The facility has capacity to produce 120,000t of the company’s MevoCem product, which has up to 85 per cent emissions reductions compared to ordinary Portland cement per year.
The plant uses no heat or kilns to combine the constituent ingredients of its cement. Instead, the facility relies on the company’s patented alkali-fusion process to produce a cement capable of undergoing geopolymerisation. Sam Clark, co-founder and chief operating officer of Material Evolution, said, “This launch takes us one step closer to achieving our goal of removing one gigatonne of CO2 by 2040. Constructing a first-of-a-kind facility in just eight months is a massive undertaking. But our modular construction and lean design principles not only allowed us to move rapidly, but also means our approach is highly scalable. We hope this facility proves that cement and concrete decarbonisation is not only a possibility in the future – it’s a reality on the ground today. We look forward to working with government agencies, trade bodies and concrete specifiers to join us on our mission to realise the green transition in the UK.”
The plant is located in Llay, Wrexham, on the site of CCP Building Products, which produces pre-cast concrete blocks. This location will allow for cement and concrete production at the same site, further lowering the carbon footprint of the end product due to the reduced transport requirements.
Material Evolution funded the A1 Production Facility’s construction in part through the GBP15m (US$19.1m) Series A funding round it raised in 2023, including strategic investment from SigmaRoc, CCP Building Products’ parent company.
