A new low carbon cement material produced at MCi Carbon’s Myrtle demonstration plant, Pozzlock, has passed a concrete field trial hosted by Boral in New South Wales.
Pozzlock Concrete Trial Delivers Results at Boral’s Maldon Cement Works
Newcastle, Australia | July 2026 – Material produced at MCi Carbon’s Myrtle demonstration plant in Newcastle. Boral has successfully used the material in concrete field trials at its Maldon Cement Works in New South Wales.
SmartCrete Cooperative Research Centre led the project, with Transport for NSW and University of Technology Sydney as partners. The project investigates new supplementary cementitious materials for potential use in lower-carbon concrete for infrastructure applications.
Concrete produced for the trial incorporated a low-carbon cement material ‘Pozzlock’ – a synthetic pozzolan. MCi Carbon manufactured Pozzlock at its Myrtle demonstration plant in Newcastle, which which Australia’s Climate Change and Energy Minister Chris Bowen officially opened in June 2026.
How Mineral Carbonation Produces Pozzlock
In this process called mineral carbonation, CO2 reacts with mineral-rich feedstocks to form stable carbonates while generating a cementitious material that can partially replace high-emissions clinker in concrete. The Myrtle facility provides a platform for scaling MCi Carbon’s technology from pilot research to industrial deployment.
Emissions Reduction Potential of the Pozzlock Concrete Trial
In addition to the CO2 mineralised during production, the MCi cementitious material generated through this process can contribute to further downstream emissions reductions when used in concrete. Each tonne of MCi cementitious material can potentially avoid approximately 0.5 tonnes of CO2. This offers a pathway for further lifecycle emissions reductions as the technology scales.
The Pozzlock concrete trial mix used the MCi cementitious material at 5% cement replacement, with the project identifying a pathway to evaluate replacement levels of up to 10% in future work.
“Producing Pozzlock at this scale is a critical step in commercialising at scale. What’s particularly significant about this project is how it brings together industry, research and government to demonstrate how innovation in concrete can be delivered in practice. It’s a strong example of how new low-carbon materials can be validated and integrated into existing construction processes, accelerating their pathway to adoption.”
Marcus Dawe, Founder and CEO of MCi Carbon
“Boral is proud to be supporting MCi Carbon in advancing their mineral carbonation carbon capture solution. Decarbonising our cement manufacturing operations is a key focus for Boral, and we are pleased to contribute to developing utilisation pathways for products generated as part of the mineral carbonation carbon capture process. Aligned with our work developing low-carbon supplementary cementitious materials, such as calcined clay, to decarbonise concrete manufacturing at scale, we are excited to be part of the development journey for other innovative solutions.”
Ali Nezhad, Head of Sustainability and Innovation at Boral
Staged Testing, from Lab to Field
Testing progressed through a staged validation program beginning with mortar testing and laboratory concrete trials before moving to larger-scale mixing trials. Early-stage concrete testing was conducted at UTS Tech Lab in Sydney, where workability, slump retention and compressive strength development were assessed against a fly ash control mix.
The team then used high-shear mixing equipment to evaluate concrete performance and replicate commercial batching conditions before field testing
Results at Maldon Cement Works
In the final stage, Boral produced back-to-back concrete truck loads at its Maldon Cement Works.. One load used conventional fly ash as the supplementary cementitious material while the second incorporated MCi cementitious material. Each load produced approximately 3.5 m³ of concrete, which the team pumped, placed and finished into a test slab.
Fresh concrete properties, including slump retention, air content and density, were comparable between the Pozzlock mix and the fly ash control. Early-age compressive strength development and drying shrinkage were also within the expected range.
