Steve Harpur
KAMLOOPS – Progressive Planet has developed a third supplementary cementing material, Planet LCD Cement, that the company believes can partially replace Portland cement in concrete.
Progressive Planet believes it is the first company to develop Limestone Calcined Diatomite (LCD) that has lower amounts of alumina than LC3 Cements and Progressive Planet and has successfully substituted up to 50% of Portland with Planet LCD Cement, resulting in strong compressive strength in tests on mortar cubes.
“Planet LCD Cement uses diatomaceous earth, limestone, and gypsum, all which are plentiful materials,” states CEO Steve Harpur. “We have created a highly reactive cement without metakaolin. Waste diatomaceous earth powders sell for a fraction of the cost of metakaolin. This opens up opportunities to utilize waste diatomaceous earth powders globally to replace 50% of Portland with Planet LCD Cement.” Dr. Doug Brown, CTO, adds “Planet LCD Cement is a scalable solution that creates stronger cement than the status quo. The reactivity of silica in these naturally occurring rocks is exceptional for the production of natural pozzolans.”
Planet LCD Cement was invented by Harpur, Dr. Brown and Michael Carrell, all full-time team members of Progressive Planet. A trademark application for the name Planet LCD Cement has been filed in Canada and protection will be sought in the USA claiming priority to that Canadian application. In addition, a provisional patent application for the composition of Planet LCD Cement has been filed in the USA, which lays the foundation for international filings in additional countries within one year.
Progressive Planet also announced that its Calgary-based C-Quester™ Centre of Sustainable Solutions will have its grand opening March 26.
The Calgary lab will focus on creating various versions of Planet LCD Cement using sources of waste diatomaceous earth from industrial mineral processors while also focusing on the development of their own plasticizer that is specifically designed for use with Planet LCD Cement. It will also work on creating various versions of Gladiator SCM, and will offer contractual testing services to third party clients.
The Kamloops lab will remain focused on quality control testing of PozGlass SCM as the company moves closer to commercialization. In addition, the Kamloops lab will focus on developing specialty cement additives which contain nanoparticles of glass.
The production of PozGlass SCM results in nanoparticles being created in wastewater. The Kamloops lab has invested in a specialty particle size analyzer that can identify particles as small as ten nanometres. Efforts to recover and generate more nanoparticles of glass have commenced.
“As a mechanical engineer, I have been working on wet grinding circuits for over 15 years. As with most materials, the reactivity of PozGlass increases with the reduction in the average particle size,” states PozGlass SCM lab Manager Michael Carrell. “The ability to create incremental value from particles that are so small that they pass through the filter press that recovers PozGlass is exciting to me.”
All major components for Phase 1 of the PozGlass Pilot Plant are now installed.
“Unless there are delays from the local electrical utility to connect the new 1,200-amp electrical service to the power poles on the street, Progressive Planet expects the PozGlass SCM Pilot Plant to be producing dry glass powder before the end of our fourth quarter which ends on April 30, 2026,” notes Sam MacDonald, P. Eng. and Process Engineer for PozGlass SCM.
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