KLAW Industries

Short Solution Description: 

KLAW Industries processes waste glass that recycling facilities send to the landfill into a partial replacement for cement, called Pantheon. Pantheon replaces up to 50% of cement, lowering the embodied carbon of concrete.

Patheon increases the compressive strength of concrete by 11%, decreases the embodied carbon by 30%, and lowers the material cost of concrete by 25% for concrete mix directors. Pantheon reduces carbon by replacing cement in the concrete mix. Cement produces one ton of CO2 for every one ton produced. In July 2021, the New York State Pollution Prevention Institute (NYSP2I) completed a Greenhouse Gas Impact Assessment that showed Pantheon reduces the embodied carbon of concrete by 60 kgCO2e/yd3.

KLAW Industries has demonstrated the technical and environmental benefits of Pantheon at 17 pilot projects and two commercial projects; a bike path at Clarkson University and a residential sidewalk on La Grange Street in Binghamton, NY.

KLAW Industries has developed a patent-pending process to remove contamination from waste glass and create Pantheon. In June 2021, KLAW Industries purchased a 6000 sq. ft., run-down production facility in their community to scale Pantheon and improve their hometown.

The Problem:

Pantheon™ solves two problems; landfill overcrowding and low-quality, high-carbon concrete. 

The EPA estimates recycling facilities send 8.3 million tons of glass to landfills annually in the US. As valuable material takes up space, the landfill begins to encroach on the rural homeowners, within Broome County, 1279 people live within 3 miles of the landfill. 

Cement is the binding ingredient in concrete and accounts for 8% of global CO2 emissions. Mix directors at ready mix concrete plants have used fly ash from coal power plants and slag from steel foundries to lower cement content since the 1950s. As these industries disappear across the US, mix directors face massive shortages and price increases of 16% each year. 

Many companies use low-quality, high-carbon concrete due to the inability to afford access to any other option. 

As the US reinvests $1.2 trillion in infrastructure, 5,800 community members of the East Side of Binghamton will be priced out of quality building materials, leaving them to fix decaying infrastructure and lowering their property value.  

Pantheon™ solves these problems by diverting waste glass to create an inexpensive, high-performing cement replacement. Pantheon™ ensures that the communities they serve are stronger as they decarbonize.

What barriers currently exist for you to accomplish your goals in the next year? 

Over the next year, their technical goal is to scale KLAW Industries' proprietary process to remove contamination from waste glass. In December 2021, KLAW Industries received a $100,000 SBIR Phase I award from the EPA to assist in these efforts. 

The most significant market barrier to KLAW Industries' impact goal of preventing 50 tons of CO2 is market hesitation and slow adoption of Pantheon™. To minimize this risk, KLAW Industries has completed 17 pilot projects and two commercial projects to validate Pantheon™. KLAW Industries is working with Clarkson University and the NYSP2I to perform $50,000 of testing at Clarkson to show mix directors that Pantheon™ can be used in public-facing projects like a park.

KLAW Industries has raised $458,000 in non-dilutive funding to advance Pantheon™ to this point. However, due to Pantheon's™ material properties, specialty equipment is needed to transport Pantheon™ to mix directors for regular use. $78,000 is required to achieve these impact goals, and KLAW Industries is working to lower this number through a combination of state and federal funding.