C-Quester Centre of Sustainable Solutions to Launch in Calgary This Month

Progressive Planet has announced the grand opening of a Alberta-based Cement Lab.

The Kamloops-based cleantech says its C-Quester Centre of Sustainable Solutions open on in Calgary Thursday, March 26, where cofounders Steve Harpur and Dave Richardson will be in attendance.

The Calgary lab will focus on creating various versions of “Planet LCD Cement,” the latest patent-pending innovation from the Canadian company.

The lab will also work on creating various versions of Gladiator SCM, another proprietary material, and will offer contractual testing services to third party clients with the long-term goal of becoming another profit centre for the PLAN Group of Companies.

“LCD” stands for Limestone Calcined Diatomite, and Progressive Planet believes it is the first company to develop this particular material.

To reduce the carbon footprint of concrete, global cement companies have begun producing a type of cement called Limestone Calcined Clay Cement, which use natural pozzolans high in alumina such as metakaolin along with limestone and gypsum to replace up to 50% of Portland cement in concrete.

LCD, meanwhile, has many times lower amounts of alumina than LC3 Cements, according to Progressive Planet, which says it has successfully substituted up to 50% of Portland with Planet LCD Cement with strong compressive strength in tests on mortar cubes.

“Planet LCD Cement uses diatomaceous earth, limestone, and gypsum, all which are plentiful materials,” says Harpur, CEO.

“We have created a highly reactive cement without metakaolin,” he continued, noting that “Waste diatomaceous earth powders sell for a fraction of the cost of metakaolin.”

“This opens up opportunities to utilize waste diatomaceous earth powders globally to replace 50% of Portland with Planet LCD Cement,” Harpur believes.

Planet LCD Cement “is a scalable solution that creates stronger cement than the status quo,” according to CTO Dr. Doug Brown, who invented the material alongside Harpur and Michael Carrell. “The reactivity of silica in these naturally occurring rocks is exceptional for the production of natural pozzolans.”

Founded in 2018, Progressive Planet’s products are available in 10,000 retail locations across North America.