Sublime Systems — a company that is advancing a fossil-fuel-free, scalable, drop-in replacement for traditional cement in concrete — was picked by the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) Office of Clean Energy Demonstrations (OCED) to start award negotiations for up to $87 million in Bipartisan Infrastructure Law and Inflation Reduction Act funding in connection with the Industrial Demonstrations Program (IDP).
Sublime’s First Commercial Electrochemical Cement Manufacturing project was picked as one of 33 projects across 20+ states to receive up to a total of $6 billion to demonstrate commercial-scale decarbonization solutions needed for moving energy-intensive industries toward net-zero while strengthening local economies, creating and maintaining jobs, and eliminating harmful emissions that jeopardize public health. And Sublime previously revealed it selected the site for its first commercial manufacturing facility in Holyoke, Massachusetts, a city that once manufactured most of the paper in the US.
The DoE required OCED applicants to submit Community Benefits Plans (CBPs), which must provide that they will engage communities and labor, create quality jobs, and prioritize economic and environmental justice for disadvantaged groups. And Sublime was guided to Holyoke through screening tools created by Justice 40, which is an initiative that directs 40% of the overall benefits of certain federal investments to flow to disadvantaged communities.
Sublime expects to create hundreds of jobs during the project’s construction phase and 70-90 ongoing roles once the plant is operational. The company has also signed a strategic partnership agreement with the United Steelworkers (USW)—which represents approximately half of unionized cement workers in the U.S. today—focused on operational positions in the Holyoke plant.
Sublime has also signed a Memoranda of Understanding to negotiate project labor agreements with the region’s building trade unions for the construction phase.
Supporting Sublime’s CBP is a collaboration with the Smithsonian Science Education Center (SSEC). Through early and frequent engagement with Holyoke stakeholders, it became clear that the community goal is to build an educational ecosystem that prepares residents to capitalize on high-quality career opportunities in STEM. The OCED selection includes funding to use SSEC’s educational programming resources to support that goal.
Cement is the crucial ingredient in concrete — the most consumed material on Earth after water — and its production is responsible for 8% of global carbon dioxide emissions. And the current ordinary portland cement (OPC) is made with a 200-year-old process that thermally decomposes limestone. This rock is nearly half CO2 by weight in fossil-fueled kilns running at temperatures as high as 1450°C.
Sublime was launched in 2020 to have a swift and massive impact in cleaning up the production of this essential building material. And it has since scaled its electrochemical cement manufacturing to a pilot capacity of 250 metric tons per year (TPY). The Holyoke’s first commercial facility will open in early 2026. It will produce up to 30,000 TPY of Sublime Cement — without fossil fuel pollution — such as NOx, SOx, mercury particulates, and kiln dust — often characterized by industrial growth.
Sublime has already secured capacity reservations for more than 45,000 tons of the Sublime Cement that will be produced in Holyoke.
KEY QUOTES:
“Access to sufficient capital for industrial-scale demonstrations is the single biggest obstacle preventing breakthrough innovations from reaching the scale humanity needs to combat the climate crisis. The Department of Energy has cleared this obstacle through funding from OCED’s Industrial Demonstrations Program, embracing its unique role in supporting the deployment of the decarbonized technologies of tomorrow. We look forward to collaborating with them on funding our first commercial manufacturing scale-up, which will ship our clean cement while creating meaningful economic opportunities for the surrounding community.”
– Sublime Systems CEO and Co-Founder Dr. Leah Ellis
“The USW congratulates Sublime on being selected to receive this groundbreaking funding from the Department of Energy. We look forward to continuing our partnership and building the skilled union workforce necessary to advance Sublime’s breakthrough clean cement manufacturing technology.”
– USW International President Dave McCall
“This support facilitates the Smithsonian Science Education Center’s ability to offer programming to the Holyoke Public Schools that will enhance students’ understanding of complex global issues such as decarbonization and equip them with the skills and knowledge necessary to become agents of change. Programs such as this enable students to grasp firsthand how advanced technologies, developed in their own backyard, support global efforts to fight climate change — and the actions they can take to promote life on a sustainable planet.”
– Dr. Monique M. Chism, Smithsonian Under Secretary for Education
“Spurring on the next generation of decarbonization technologies in key industries like steel, paper, concrete, and glass will keep America the most competitive nation on Earth. Thanks to President Biden’s industrial strategy, DOE is making the largest investment in industrial decarbonization in the history of the United States. These investments will slash emissions from these difficult-to-decarbonize sectors and ensure American businesses and American workers remain at the forefront of the global economy.”
– U.S. Secretary of Energy Jennifer M. Granholm
“Thanks to the dynamic interplay between federal, state, and local policy, we are ushering in a new era where economic opportunity and fighting climate change go hand in hand — both in our community and so many similar former industrial hubs throughout the United States.”
– Holyoke Mayor Joshua A. Garcia
“Sublime represents the tremendous potential the climatetech industry has to transform and grow Massachusetts’ economy – from its beginnings at an incubator to its expansion in Holyoke for manufacturing. Sublime’s ingenuity, boosted by state and federal funding, is creating good-paying jobs and boosting our economic competitiveness. We congratulate Sublime on this exciting achievement and will continue to advocate for our Mass Leads Act to replicate this success with other climatetech companies.”
– Massachusetts Governor Maura Healey – who has proposed a $1 billion, 10-year investment to make the state a leader in climatetech
“I’ve been able to see Sublime Systems grow from the startup space at Greentown Labs to its latest expansion to manufacture its low-carbon cement product in Holyoke. The Healey-Driscoll Administration is working to make Massachusetts the climate innovation capital of the world. We are proud to see the solutions to climate change being built across the Commonwealth of Massachusetts. Sublime Systems shows us this is possible.”
– Dr. Emily Reichert, CEO of the Massachusetts Clean Energy Center
