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Study from the University of California, Santa Barbara published in 2026 in the journal Communications Sustainability shows that replacing limestone with basalt rocks in Portland cement can reduce up to 80% of CO₂ emissions and cut more than 40% of energy consumption in the sector
Basalt-based cement can redesign the planet’s largest industrial source of carbon emissions.
According to a study published in 2026 in the journal Interesting Engineering, the paper in Communications Sustainability presents robust experimental data.
Researchers led by geologist Jeff Prancevic from the University of California, Santa Barbara, demonstrated that using basalt and gabbro as raw materials reduces more than 80% of CO₂ emissions.
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The study was conducted in partnership with the American company Brimstone Energy. According to the researcher, the limestone used in traditional Portland cement is “half CO₂,” released directly into the atmosphere during production.
Global impact of the cement sector
Cement accounts for about 4.4% of global greenhouse gas emissions. In comparison, this is equivalent to the volume emitted by all passenger cars in the world combined, according to the paper.
The traditional Portland formula releases about 500 kg of CO₂ per ton of cement produced, not counting the energy spent in the kilns.
To understand the scale, the world produces more than 4 billion tons of cement annually, according to the International Energy Agency.
Each percentage point reduction in sector emissions is equivalent to taking millions of cars off the road.
Therefore, any technological route that replaces the raw material of the basic cement reaction has geopolitical and climatic weight. Basalt falls into this category.
Basalt-based cement: the chemistry behind the new route
Portland cement is produced by heating limestone to temperatures close to 1,450 °C. In this process, the rock releases carbon dioxide in a fixed proportion: half the weight of the limestone becomes atmospheric CO₂.
According to Prancevic’s study, basalt and gabbro contain enough calcium to generate quicklime, a key ingredient in cement, without releasing as much carbon.
In practice, this occurs because these volcanic rocks have little carbon incorporated into their chemical structure. The calcium comes from silicates, not carbonates.
According to the paper, heating silicate rocks above 1,500 °C produces quicklime with about 60% of the energy consumption required by the traditional method.
The numbers from the UC Santa Barbara study
The quantified gains by the researchers are significant. Compared to the conventional Portland cement route, the new formula presents:
- More than 80% less CO₂ emissions per ton of cement produced
- About 60% of the energy consumption compared to the limestone process
- At least 25% reduction in emissions even without additional chemical optimization
- Coproduction of iron and aluminum from the same basalt rock
The last point is particularly important. Basalt contains iron and aluminum in useful concentrations, allowing simultaneous extraction of multiple industrial materials.
In turn, this reduces the mining footprint of isolated ores. A single basalt quarry can provide raw materials for cement, steelmaking, and light metallurgy.
Global availability of basalt
Basalt is the most common volcanic rock on the Earth’s surface. Additionally, it covers about 70% of the ocean floor.
Large expanses appear on continents such as South America, India, East Africa, and the northwestern United States.
According to geological analysis cited in the study, there is enough basalt available to supply the cement industry for hundreds of thousands of years at the current rate of consumption.
In Argentina, basaltic formations cover large areas of Patagonia, with famous natural columns in provinces such as Neuquén and Río Negro.
Indeed, the region is considered one of the largest potential basalt reserves in South America.
On the other hand, in Brazil, there are vast stretches of rock in the South, especially in western Paraná and Santa Catarina, a legacy of the Serra Geral Formation eruptions.
Brimstone Energy brings basalt-based cement to industrial scale
Brimstone Energy, a research partner, is an American startup founded in 2019 and based in Oakland, California. The company develops chemical processes for low-carbon cement production.
In other words, Brimstone serves as a bridge between the university laboratory and the industrial factory.
According to the publication, the startup has already received funding rounds from funds focused on industrial decarbonization. The goal is to build the first commercial basalt-based cement plant by the end of the decade.
Therefore, the gain in energy efficiency translates into direct operational gain, with the possibility of reducing the final cost per ton of cement.
Challenges of large-scale adoption
Despite the technical potential, the transition is not trivial. The cement industry has been optimized for limestone for over a century.
Industrial plants, kilns, logistics, and quality standards have been designed around this rock.
Therefore, changing the raw material requires retraining engineers, recertifying formulas, and adapting technical standards in dozens of countries.
According to industry analysts, large-scale adoption tends to be gradual. Even so, the environmental gain justifies the investment, especially in markets with aggressive climate targets like the European Union.
Additionally, low-carbon cement is eligible for mechanisms like the European carbon border adjustment, which taxes imports with a high footprint. This creates a financial incentive for the transition in exporting economies.
Pioneering countries
The United States, European Union, Canada, and Australia appear as natural pilot markets. Therefore, these countries combine aggressive decarbonization targets, technological capacity, and availability of volcanic rock.
According to Brimstone Energy, the first commercial plant should use basalt extracted from quarries in California and Oregon.
In comparison, emerging markets like China, India, and Brazil face less pressure to decarbonize cement immediately but have abundant geological reserves of volcanic rock.
In turn, Argentina can enter the game via Patagonia, transforming a geologically ordinary rock into a strategic input for South America’s energy transition.
Parallels with other industrial transitions
The case of cement echoes what happened before in green steelmaking.
In comparison, the Danish mega-project Lynetteholm, with 80 million tons of soil sunk in the Baltic Sea, shows Europe’s appetite for large-scale engineering with controlled environmental impact.
According to energy sector data, the global capacity of solar and wind reached 4,000 GW in 2026, surpassing coal and gas. Low-carbon cement can follow the same exponential growth arc.
At that moment of the energy revolution, companies that embraced the transition early captured relevant market shares. The new formula can repeat the pattern in the next decade.
Compared to other experimental materials, basalt’s advantage lies in the almost unlimited availability of the raw material.
Limits and next steps
The UC Santa Barbara research represents a milestone but has clear caveats. According to the paper itself, the results are from the laboratory and need validation on an industrial scale.
On the other hand, without updated technical standards in organizations like ASTM in the United States and CEN in Europe, commercial adoption faces a significant regulatory barrier.
Will the cement industry, conservative by nature, be able to make the transition in less than 20 years? History shows that capital-intensive sectors usually take decades to change paradigms.
Still, it is worth remembering that the progress is real, measurable, and replicable in the laboratory.
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