Sources: alterBiota, Edwardsville, Nova Scotia; CP staff
Throughout the second half of 2025, Truro, N.S. ready mixed producer Casey Concrete has pioneered slab pours of mixes bearing the alterBiota deltaC (ΔC) liquid admixture, formulated to improve workability and strength development, while adding quantifiable carbon dioxide storage potential.
alterBiota processes the admixture from sustainable forestry-sourced biochar. ΔC imparts a CO2-sequestering mechanism in finished slabs or structures and can be used in mixes with typical cement volumes or as a partial cement substitute due to its positive impact on compressive strength. Early ΔC mix placements by Casey Concrete and peer operators have seen 10-22 percent reduction of CO2 emissions or equivalent based on cement optimization and/or calculated CO2 uptake in hardened slabs or structures.
Casey Concrete anchored a standout project demonstrating ΔC performance for CarbonRun, a Dartmouth, N.S. company deploying river alkalinity enhancement technologies. A ΔC mix order formed the foundation of a remotely located, outdoor silo storing limestone used to rebalance river acidity levels—ultimately supporting regional ecological restoration and carbon dioxide sequestration.
“The performance improvements we saw with ΔC were impressive,” says CarbonRun Co-Founder and Chief Technology Officer Eddie Halfyard. “Achieving our required strength in a fraction of the expected time helped accelerate field deployment while reducing the embodied carbon of the project. As an organization focused on restoring ecosystems and removing carbon, working with innovative partners like alterBiota is essential to scaling climate-positive infrastructure.”
“After nearly five years of intense research & development, it is deeply rewarding to introduce our ΔC product to the concrete market,” adds alterBiota Co-Founder and CEO Mark Masotti. “With customers like CarbonRun, producer partners like Casey Concrete, and a world class innovation ecosystem in Nova Scotia, we have been able to successfully demonstrate a practical, scalable, renewable, and cost-effective way to achieve net new decarbonization of concrete.”
