Solidia Technologies (Solidia) is a New Jersey company that has developed a carbon sequestration technology for use in the concrete and cement markets. Â Solidia’s process sequesters CO2 by injecting it into concrete during the manufacturing process.
Consistent with the trend of clean tech companies generating PR about their patent news (see, e.g., previous posts here, here, and here), Solidia recently announced that the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office granted the company three new patents.
The press release was picked up by a few news organizations, including The Olympian and The State.  But I didn’t have to search for it; it was conveniently delivered to my email inbox.
The new patents are U.S. Patent Nos. 9,221,027 (‘027 Patent), 9,393,715 (‘715 Patent), and 9,266,147 (‘147 Patent).
The ‘027 Patent is entitled “Curing systems for materials that consume carbon dioxide and method of use thereof” and directed to curing systems useful for curing materials that consume carbon dioxide as a reagent.  A schematic diagram of the patented system is shown here:
According to the ‘027 Patent, this system “creates a controlled atmosphere whereby temperature, pressure, CO2Â concentration, relative humidity and gas velocity are monitored and controlled to create final concrete-based products that will predominately cure in the presence of CO2 and will not fully cure in the absence of CO2.”
Entitled “Composite railroad ties and methods of production and uses thereof,” the ‘715 Patent is directed to railroad ties made from new composite materials including a silica-rich first or inner layer and a calcium carbonate-rich second or outer layer.
The ties have particular density, abrasion resistance, and compressive and flextural strength characteristics that enable them to perform as well as or even outperform existing concrete railroad ties. Â Here are a couple of drawing from the ‘715 Patent:
The ‘147 Patent is entitled “Precursors and transport methods for hydrothermal liquid phase sintering (HLPS)” and directed to methods of producing a ceramic body from a porous matrix including providing a porous matrix having interstitial spaces, providing an infiltrating medium comprising a solvent and at least one reactive species, and infiltrating at least a portion of the interstitial space of the porous matrix with the infiltrating medium.
According to the ‘147 Patent, the methods produce a ceramic or ceramic composite product having a uniform microstructure with respect to phase and composition.
The methods also allow HLPS reactions to be conducted in a relatively short time frame, which is important where large thick monolithic bodies are required for various applications, such as for roads or bridges. The patented techniques also balance the rate of reaction and mass transport for the HLPS method.
These three patents are just the tip of the iceberg for Solidia. Â The press release says the company has over 200 patent applications worldwide in its “patent estate,” with 31 granted patents and 15 more set to issue in the next few months. Â So there’s a lot of green patent PR still to come.
