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CalStar gives sneak peek of low-carbon brick factory
October 27, 2009 - by Emma Ritch, Cleantech Group
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Newark, Calif.-based CalStar Products started production on its pilot line last week, clearing the path to open its first factory for low-carbon bricks in Caledonia, Wis., in December.
The startup, which recently emerged from stealth, makes bricks using fly ash, a byproduct of coal-fired power plants. The company also developed a proprietary mix of standard industrial chemicals that reduces the energy intensity of the entire brick-making process.
“We’re not saying bricks are bad. We’re saying the way they’re made needs to change,” said Kane, who joined the company seven months go after 35 years of working in building materials.
The company is currently raising a $15 million Series C round, with the goal to close it by the end of the year. CalStar previously raised a $7 million Series A, and an $8 million Series B from Enertech Capital and Foundation Capital, Kane told the Cleantech Group.
CalStar’s brick is composed of 40 percent fly ash, 59 percent sand, and 1 percent chemicals. The first step of its proprietary process combines the three elements into a high-precision mixer to achieve uniform consistency. The mixer is also used in the pharmaceutical and food production industries.
See the mixer and brick-making machine at work »
The mixture is then fed into a standard brick-making machine that CalStar bought from China.
See the bricks fresh off the machine »
Next, CalStar steam-cures the bricks for eight hours, first with a cool mist for three-to-four hours, then at 185 degrees for the remainder. The Wisconsin facility is planned to do this in one location, but the pilot line uses two separate chambers.
CalStar says the low-heat process is key to its environmental footprint. A typical brick is almost entirely made up of clay, which is heated at 3,000 degrees Fahrenheit for 24 to 48 hours—a process that requires significant amounts of energy.
As a result, CalStar says each of its bricks creates 0.2 pounds of carbon dioxide emissions, while a traditional brick produces about 1.3 pounds.
“We’re not going to charge a premium for our product because we don’t have to spend a lot on energy,” Kane said, estimating that a CalStar brick will sell for $0.35, also the average wholesale cost of a traditional brick.
CalsStar has signed up a network of 22 wholesale brick distributors and plans to expand it to 30 to 35 before production begins at the Caledonia plant. CalStar then wants to build six more plants in the U.S. in the next five years.
The company has no immediate plans to sell to the global market, Kane said. That’s because CalStar’s process is dependent on a particular type of fly ash—Class C fly ash, or powder river basin coal fly ash—that is found more commonly in the United States. CalStar is able to avoid using clay because the fly ash contains calcium, which acts and looks similar to clay, Kane said.
Initially, CalStar plans to produce bricks and pavers but wants to expand its product offerings to include the entire wholesale building materials market, which is estimated at $11 billion in the U.S. alone. After its initial products go to market, CalStar plans to sell roofing tiles, mortar bricks, and blocks.
“Pretty much everything that’s not glass and steel can be made with a fly ash product,” Kane said.
CalStar’s pilot line at its R&D facility in Newark, Calif., has a production rate of 22 bricks in two minutes. Kane called the plant a miniaturized version of the Wisconsin facility—CalStar brought in the same water, sand and fly ash that the Wisconsin plant will use to make sure the conditions are identical.
CalStar’s schedule calls for the Caledonia facility to begin operations in December, with full-scale manufacturing in January. CalStar plans to start shipping products in January or February, but the company is still heavily involved in R&D testing different chemical compositions to see what produces the best result using the lowest-cost chemicals.
See bricks in the R&D and testing phases »
The company has 22 employees and plans to add 20 in Wisconsin before the end of the year.
CalStar plans for the Caledonia facility to produce 12 million bricks in 2010, increasing to 40 million in 2011. Wisconsin Energy (NYSE:WEC) subsidiary We Energies, which is providing the fly ash for the Wisconsin facility, has helped defray the costs of the Caledonia facility by purchasing and retrofitting a building for CalStar to use under a long-term lease.
Kane declined to share the cost of the facility but said a standard brick plant with annual production of 100 million units would cost $40 million, while a 100 million-brick facility would cost CalStar $20 million because it doesn’t need a kiln.
Using fly ash in building materials is nothing new, as it’s already incorporated in products including Portland cement and asphalt concrete. However, it’s estimated that 65 percent of fly ash from coal-fired power plants worldwide goes to landfills, with the U.S. reporting a slightly lower 57 percent, according to the American Coal Ash Association.
Kane said the key to CalStar’s products is that they offer the same performance as aesthetics as traditional bricks, but without the energy use. Currently, the cost to buy a ton of fly ash in the U.S. ranges from about $5 to $30, but that could change as fly ash disposal faces tighter government restrictions, he said.
“The cost to send fly ash to landfills will go up, and utilities will be faced with finding the most beneficial use,” Kane said.
CalStar Products is one of 11 potential new investment opportunities the Cleantech Group added to its innovation pipeline this week, available exclusively to members of the Cleantech Network. Members can click here to search the database.
Interested in emerging cleantech innovations? Here are two new international companies added to the Cleantech Group's database this week also looking for funding:
- Sweden-based NLAB Solar is seeking €4 million for its one-dimensional photonic crystals to increase the solar-to-electricity energy conversion efficiency. The company says the photonic crystal adds versatility in transparency and color to dye-sensitized solar cells.
- Switzerland-based SwissINSO is seeking $10 million for its mobile, solar-powered water purification units and solar air cooling thermal panels.
Seeking capital, partners or customers? Submit to the Cleantech Group’s innovation pipeline.
Browse past pitches here.
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Comments
Calstar's Greenwashed Toxic Bricks
Submitted on October 29th, 2009 by bkwaas (not verified)Calstar is a Greenwash.
The company plans to use ash from the Oak Creek power plant in WI.
Here are the facts on the toxicity of the fly ash - EPA’s data on the toxic metals emitted by the Oak Creek power plant in its fly ash. The data was extracted from EPA’s Toxics Release Inventory.
Oak Creek produces about 114,000 short tons of fly ash annually. The fly ash contains the following toxics (annual emissions):
Arsenic: 6,657 pounds
Barium: 214,501 pounds
Chromium: 18,000 pounds
Copper: 20,000 pounds
Lead: 4,600 pounds
Manganese: 13,000 pounds
Nickel: 9,000 pounds
Thallium: 10,000 pounds
Vanadium: 4,750 pounds
Zinc: 6,900 pounds
The total amount of toxics contained in Oak Creek’s annual production of fly ash is over 300,000 pounds.
Just ONE fly ash brick (standard size, residential, 5 lbs) contains over 3 grams of highly toxic metals.
The toxics from just ONE fly ash brick can potentially poison 13,000 gallons of water.
Now, imagine the toxic hazard associated by a wall of fly ash bricks.
Imagine the toxics on your hands from handling these bricks.
Imagine the toxics you breathe in with the dust from these bricks.
Imagine these bricks in contact with water and the toxics leaching from the bricks.
The leaching of these toxics from Calstar's fly ash bricks has been confirmed - the company's own results show that the bricks are unsafe and leach a whole range of highly hazardous metals.
Calstar - the Greenwash company.
The Toxicity of Calstar's Fly Ash Bricks
Submitted on October 30th, 2009 by bkwaas (not verified)A quick analysis of the data on toxic metals leaching from Calstar’s fly ash bricks (you can find this at http://calstarproducts.com/resources/gradient-memorandum/)
In the case of Arsenic (a listed Carcinogen) – the results show that a staggering 800 ug of Arsenic will leach from one brick in one month – or almost 10 mg of arsenic per brick per year. The arsenic from just one brick is enough to poison over 250 gallons of water. This is from Calstar’s own data.
How about the toxic cocktail of other metals that leach from Calstar’s bricks – beryllium, cadmium, copper, lead, manganese, mercury, nickel and thallium? Over 2 grams of highly toxic metals will leach from ONE brick - poisoning over 1,000 gallons of water. Just ONE brick. All from Calstar's own data.
How about a house faced with fly ash bricks? A standard residence in WI has about 1,500-2,000 square feet of wall face, requiring about 8,000 – 10,000 of standard facing bricks.
So, a residence faced with fly ash bricks will have a total toxic metals content of over 20 POUNDS. These toxics leach - as confirmed by Calstar's own data, and are enough to severely poison residents and the environment - enough in fact to poison over 1 million gallons of water.
So, a house with Calstar's fly ash bricks will in effect be a miniature fly ash landfill - leaching toxic metals and poisoning everything inside it and around it.
There is nothing “Clean” nor “Green” about Calstar’s fly ash bricks.
Disinformation from Calstar
Submitted on October 31st, 2009 by bkwaas (not verified)Here is more disinformation from Calstar (http://calstarproducts.com/resources/) – concerning “Product safety”.
Calstar claims: “Our commitment to green extends to product safety; we test our products extensively to ensure they are safe throughout their lifecycle, from manufacture to placement to use (and reuse) to end-of-life disposal”
This is very far from the truth – Calstar has not produced enough bricks to do placement, reuse, disposal or any of the elements of lifecycle testing. Oh, and of course, they have not done an environmental footprint assessment of LCA – because, they know very well that will show what a Greenwash their product is.
Calstar claims: “Our process for making fly ash into bricks binds the materials within a strong crystalline matrix that holds even if exposed to the intense acids found in landfills.”
This is nonsense. Calstar’s curing process does not form any significant crystalline matrix – the borate-alkanolamine system they use has been known for decades and is known to form an amorphous matrix that degrades over time and is not effective at binding toxic metals. In fact, alkanolamines increase metal leaching, and that is why they are not used in fly ash products. And what strong acids are they talking about? The short-duration leaching tests they cite use very dilute solutions similar to rainwater which effect a very mild leach. And their own results show that toxic metals rapidly leach even under these very mild conditions.
Calstar claims: “While hundreds of millions of tons of fly ash have been safely included in concrete buildings and infrastructures around the world for decades”.
Nice spin. Fly ash has indeed been used extensively in concrete around the world – however, in all cases, the fly ash is safely encapsulated with portland cement and/or blast furnace slag – these are known from decades of research to react with the fly ash and effectively bind toxic metals, and the products are known to be stable and safe. This has no bearing on Calstar’s bricks. In fact, Calstar’s own data shows that metals leach from their bricks.
Calstar claims: “CalStar Products, Inc. has undertaken extensive testing of our products to ensure the same levels of safety apply. Test results on our products from respected third-party laboratories have been reviewed and analyzed by Gradient, a respected environmental consultancy in Cambridge, Massachusetts. They find that “the presence of coal fly ash metals in newly manufactured CalStar bricks is not expected to result in any exposures of health concern”.
More spin. Calstar has done no significant safety testing of their product, and has used a contract firm that is associated with the fly ash industry and which promotes fly ash, to certify its products. Important point here – Gradient did not do any of the tests – they were paid by Calstar to “interpret” the tests – hence the very careful wording of the safety statement. If Calstar does any meaningful testing, the toxicity of the bricks will become even more apparent – Calstar knows this all too well. The irony is that even their very mild preliminary tests show that the bricks are not safe and that metals leach out.
Calstar – the Greenwash company.
Analysis of Arsenic Leaching from Calstar Bricks
Submitted on November 11th, 2009 by bkwaas (not verified)The SPLP data shows that the leachate contains 0.25 to 0.6 ppb of arsenic. And, the tests are conducted with 20-vols of leaching solution (relative to brick) over a period of 18 h.
So, a standard (5 lb) brick under the same leaching conditions will equate to 11.4 to 27.4 ug of arsenic per brick per leaching period (18 h).
So, over one month, the arsenic leaching is 456-1,094 ug of arsenic. This is enough to poison 140 to 340 gallons of water. One brick. And when you consider the cocktail of other metals that leach out, each brick is enough to poison over 1,000 gallons of water. One brick.
The actual situation may be worse because the leaching of arsenic and other toxics from fly ash can have a significant lag phase (minutes to hours to days) characterized by a low leaching rate, after which leaching increases in a non-linear manner, and then decreases thereafter. This is because of the finite time required for infiltration, the kinetic barriers for reaction, equilibration and leaching from fly ash phases and diffusion controlled transport to the particle surface. So these results may represent the low-level kinetically-inhibited, non-equilibrium phase, and longer-term leaching may uncover the transition to a higher-level quasi-equilibrium state characterized by increased leaching of arsenic.
The main value of the SPLP and TCLP tests is to uncover the toxic hazard.
The fact that the tests show that toxics like arsenic leach, is an immediate and major red flag and indicates a significant health and environmental hazard.
The actual leaching may be much worse and long-term leaching tests (years, in-place, in-the-field) must be done, and the safety of the product proven, before any decision to introduce this product
The toxicity of fly ash bricks is a very serious issue ? not one to be so lightly Greenwashed by Calstar.
If the bricks are truly "inert and do not leach" and are "eco-friendly" as Calstar?s CEO Michael Kane and their marketing state, then surely Calstar must be ready to back this up with a lifetime warranty that their fly ash bricks are non-toxic, not a health or environmental hazard and completely safe.
But they will never provide such a guarantee - Calstar knows, contrary to their claims that their bricks are toxic, and they know they cannot guarantee product safety - their own tests show that the bricks leach toxics within just one day.
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