Progressive Planet Solutions Inc (CVE:PLAN) (FRA:ARB3) has moved closer to a full-scale commercial roll-out of its PozGlass SCM product in Western Canada and the Pacific Northwest after a successful first phase of a two-pronged program.
PozGlass SCM combines natural pozzolan, recycled, post-consumer glass and proprietary processes in a bid to deliver an attractive economic and environmental solution to replace fly ash, which is used as a supplementary cementitious material (SCM), when making concrete.
Based on the results, management believes this is 'achievable', the company said.
READ: Progressive Planet working towards commercializing pozzolan to create sustainable building product
As reported in January 2021, the company said it had hired C&CS Atlantic Inc, whose principal is Dr Michael Thomas, to complete the testing required to commercially launch PozGlass SCM.
First phase testing focused on pin-pointing proprietary formulations that would enhance durability, workability, and usability factors when replacing portions of Portland Cement in concrete. Concrete is routinely produced with between 10% and 50% replacement of Portland Cement with SCMs such as fly ash.
Following the results, PLAN said it had now finalized the recipe of natural pozzolan and post-consumer glass in its PozGlass SCM product and the first phase testing is now complete, ahead of schedule.
Phase Two testing has now started and will focus on testing concrete durability, including compressive strength, chloride permeability testing (RCP) and sulphate resistance, the company added.
It is the company's aim to maximize potential environmental benefits with PozGlass SCM by using a blend of PLAN's natural pozzolans and a maximum amount of recovered post-consumer glass, while still mitigating Alkali-Silica Reactivity (ASR).
Over 70% of post-consumer glass currently goes to landfill. PozGlass SCM diverts this glass from landfill while providing a CO2 offset of nearly 1 tonne for every 1 tonne of PozGlass SCM.
"The biggest hindrances to using 100% ground glass as an SCM are its lower compressive strength compared to other alternatives and its inability to mitigate alkali-silica reactivity in concrete," PLAN CEO Steve Harpur told investors.
"The proprietary formulation for PozGlass SCM combines the highest environmental benefits from using a maximum percentage of recovered post-consumer glass while getting a boost of strength and ASR mitigation from our natural pozzolan."
Contact the author at giles@proactiveinvestors.com