Concrete is an essential material in the modern world, with sand and cement actually among the world's most massive material production by volume and weight.The production of cement is also a very energy-intensive activity. It is also almost exclusively powered by fossil fuels, resulting in cement production being responsible for 8% of the world’s CO2 emissions .This can be compared to the CO2 emissions of cars and vans, which are responsible for 10% of the world’s total emissions. So, making concrete more sustainable would be as impactful as turning all the world's cars into EVs and powering them only with green energy.A lot of the carbon emissions from cement manufacturing come from the mining, breaking, processing, and refining of the raw materials used to produce it. Like limestone, calcium carbonate-rich rocks (CaCO3) are mined and mixed with clay to obtain the raw material that becomes concrete.There is potentially another source of calcium carbonate on Earth, which is seawater. The oceans contain a lot of dissolved minerals, with, of course, table salt (sodium and chlorine ions), but also magnesium, calcium, potassium, and even metals, with notably uranium, potentially one day sourced from the world's oceans instead of uranium mines. Dissolved CO2 in the form of carbonate ions is also abundant in the oceans, making them one of Earth's most powerful carbon sinks.Scientists from Northwestern University and CEMEX Innovation Holding AG (Switzerland) are now exploring if they could exploit this sea-born abundance to produce concrete’s raw material while capturing CO2 instead of emitting it

Sublime Systems expects to create 70 - 90 jobs once its new plant is operational.