I am excited to share that I will be interning at Brimstone this summer, a company working towards the goal of decarbonizing the cement industry. In the last few years it has become apparent that the decarbonization of cement production is going to be a very challenging piece to the puzzle of climate change mitigation. I could not be more excited to work alongside such a talented team of passionate scientists, engineers, and researchers, doing this work!

Today, cement production is responsible for 5-8% of global CO₂ emissions. This CO₂ originates from the fossil fuels used to generate a high temperature environment, but also from the chemistry of the cement process itself. Cement is made from limestone (CaCO₃) and clay. When these are heated to form cement clinker, the CaCO₃ breaks down into CaO which fuses with the clay, and CO₂ which is released to the atmosphere. Climate change is one of the biggest problems of our time and decarbonizing cement production is a tremendous step toward progress!