Meet the 33-year-old Canadian chemist and the renowned MIT professor who are building the ‘electric vehicle of cement making’

While

Leah
Ellis
was
earning
her
doctorate
at
Dalhousie
University in
Nova
Scotia,
she
was
part
of
a

team
that
did
battery
research
for
Tesla.
After
she
graduated,
her
budding
career
took
an
unusual
turn.

“I
could
have
gotten
an
easier
job
with
my
background
in
battery
materials
—
a
lot
of
my
colleagues
go
work
for


Tesla
or


Apple.
I
could
have
done
that,
…
and
I
would
have
made
more
money
at
first,”
Ellis,
33,
told
CNBC
by
phone
Wednesday.

Instead,
Ellis
applied
for
and
won
a
prestigious

Banting
Postdoctoral
Fellowship
that
granted
her
two
years’
salary
to
work
with
whomever
she
wanted.

Ellis
took
her
Ph.D.
in
electrochemistry
and
went
to
work
for

Yet-Ming
Chiang,
a
renowned
material
sciences
professor
at
Massachusetts
Institute
of
Technology
who
is
also
a
serial
clean-tech
entrepreneur.
Chiang
co-founded
companies
such
as

American
Superconductor
Corporation,

A123
Systems,

Desktop
Metal,

Form
Energy
and

24M
Technologies.

Now
Ellis
is
working
to
scale
up
a
new
climate-conscious
process
of
making
cement,
one
powered
with
electrochemistry
instead
of
fossil
fuel-powered
heat.

Making
cement
using
electrochemistry
was
Chiang’s
idea,
Ellis
told
CNBC
in
Boston
at
the
end
of
May.
Ellis
said
she
worked
with
Chiang
in
2018,
just
after
he
had
started

Form
Energy,
a
long-duration
battery
company,
and
he
was
thinking
about
the
abundant
intermittent
energy
that
was
being
generated
by
renewable
energy
sources
such
as
wind.

“Sometimes
people
will
pay
you
to
take
energy
off
their
hands,”
Ellis
told
CNBC.
“Instead
of
putting
that
energy
in
a
battery,
what
if
we
can
use
this
extra
low-cost
renewable
energy
to
make
something
that
would
otherwise
be
very
carbon-intensive?
And
then
the
first
on
the
list
of
things
that
are
carbon-intensive
—
it’s
cement.”

Cement
is
a
necessary
ingredient
in
concrete,
which
is
the
cornerstone
of
global
construction
and
infrastructure,
because
it’s
cheap,
strong
and
durable.
Four
billion
metric
tons,
which
is
the
equivalent
of
50,000
fully
loaded
airplanes,
of
cement
is
produced
each
year,
according
to
a

2023
report
from
management
consulting
company
McKinsey. The
value
of
the
market
was

$323
billion
in
2021
and
is
expected
to
reach
$459
billion
by
2028,
according
to
SkyQuest
Technology
Consulting.

Cement
powder
is

conventionally
made
by
crushing
raw
materials,
including
limestone
and
clay,
mixing
with
ingredients
such
as
iron
and
fly
ash,
and
putting
it
all
into
a
kiln
that
heats
the
ingredients
up
to
about
2,700
degrees
Fahrenheit.
That
process
of
making
cement
generates
approximately

8%
of
global
carbon
dioxide
emissions,
which
are
a
leading
cause
of
global
warming.

When
Chiang
had
the
idea
to
electrify
cement
manufacturing,
he
turned
to
Ellis.
“He’s
super
busy,
so
he
was
like,
‘Go
off
and
figure
it
out,'”
Ellis
told
CNBC.

So
she
did.

In
2020,
Ellis
and
Chiang
co-founded

Sublime
Systems
to
refine
and
scale
up
the
electrochemical
process
they
created
for
making
cement.

Sublime
has
raised
$50
million
from
some
leading
clean-tech
investors,
including
Chris
Sacca’s

LowerCarbon
Capital
and
Boston-based,
MIT
spin-out
venture
firm

The
Engine;
from

Siam
Cement
Group,
a
leading
cement
and
building
materials
company
in
Asia;
and
via
a

couple
of
grants
from
the

U.S.
Department
of
Energy’s
Advanced
Research
Projects
Agency-Energy,
or
ARPA-E,
program.

Ellis
likes
to
describe
what
they’re
doing
as
developing
the
“electric
vehicle
of
cement
making.”
An
electric
vehicle
replaces
a
combustion
engine
with
an
electric
motor,
and
that’s
what
Sublime
Systems
does
in
the
cement-making
process.

“I
think
for
the
layperson,
it’s
easiest
for
them
to
understand
how
we
take
that
high-temperature,
fossil-driven
process
and
replace
it
with
something
that
is
powered
by
electrons.
And
we’re
using
electrons
to
push
these
chemical
reactions,”
Ellis
told
CNBC
by
phone
Wednesday.
“That
happens
at
an
ambient
temperature
below
the
boiling
point
of
water,”
she
said,
and
that
is
a
critical
differentiator.

Ellis
said
she
didn’t
know
much
about
cement
when
Chiang
bade
her
to
go
figure
out
how
to
make
low-carbon
cement.
She
started
by
reading
Wikipedia,
and
then
textbooks.
Then
she
worked
with
another
Ph.D.
student
doing
research
that
was
later
published
in
scientific
journal
articles
on
the
topic.
That
led
to
the
concept
for
what
Sublime
is
doing
now,
and
she’s
continued
to
refine
that
concept
ever
since.

“And
basically
just
haven’t
stopped,”
Ellis
told
CNBC.
“It’s
been
five
years.”

Ellis
has
always
been
curious.
“I
grew
up
pretty
nerdy,
I
guess,
reading
a
lot
of
books,”
she
said.
“I
always
had
that
thirst
for
knowledge
and
a
sense
of
adventure.”

She
also
grew
up
in
a
religious
household.
Her
father
is
an
Orthodox
Jewish
rabbi
from
Texas,
her
mother
grew
up
on
a
sheep
farm
in
South
Africa,
and
the
two
met
when
they
were
both
in
Israel.
“Jerusalem
has
more
than
enough
rabbis.
So
he
moved
to
eastern
Canada,
where
they
don’t
have
a
lot
of
rabbis,”
Ellis
told
CNBC
of
her
father’s
move.
Her
family
celebrated
and
encouraged
having
a
robust
intellectual
life.

Ellis
and
one
of
her
two
younger
sisters
ended
up
getting
their
doctorates
in
chemistry.

“Both
of
us
realize
that
chemistry
is
a
very
creative
subject;
it’s
also
a
very
difficult
subject.
And
I
think
we
both
sort
of
gravitate
to
things
that
are
challenging,”
Ellis
told
CNBC.

When
mastered,
chemistry
can
be
used
to
effect
change.
“It
has
a
lot
of
creative
power
to
make
things
happen
in
the
real
world,”
Ellis
said.
“It’s
almost
like
magic.
If
you
work
really
hard
on
it,
you
can
create
things
that
make
the
world
a
better
place.”

Battery
scientists
and
cement
producers
have
not
historically
worked
together.
“Cement
typically
sits
in
civil
engineering,
and
battery
science
normally
sits
in
chemistry
or
physics,”
Ellis
said.
“They
don’t
go
to
the
same
conferences.”

But
with
Sublime
Systems,
Ellis
and
Chiang
are
bringing
those
two
fields
together.

That
framework
of
using
electrochemistry
to
drive
reactions
that
once
happened
with
very
hot
fossil
fuel-powered
reactions
is
not
exclusive
to
cement.

“It’s
a
huge
tool.
I
don’t
think
Sublime
is
the
only
one
that’s
applying
electrochemistry
to
clean
tech.
I
think
the
best
way
we
have
to
get
around
fossil
fuels
is
to
use
electrons,”
Ellis
told
CNBC.

“The
electrochemical
way
is
often
more
efficient,”
she
said.
“Heating
things
up
to
make
them
go
is
often
not
as
efficient
as
electrochemistry,
which
is
a
bit
more
surgical,
a
bit
more
efficient
—
or
at
least
can
be
more
efficient
with
the
right
processes.”

That
fundamental
energy
efficiency
is
why
Chiang
is
confident
in
their
solution.

“Decarbonizing
cement
production
is
going
to
be
a
very
tough
task.
There
will
be
numerous
approaches,
all
of
which
have
challenges
and
most
of
which
deserve
to
be
tested,”
Chiang
told
CNBC.
“I
prefer
to
face
our
challenges
because
we
see
a
pathway
to
complete
decarbonization
at
cost
parity
with
today’s
cement
while
consuming
the
least
amount
of
energy.
In
the
long
run,
the
lowest-energy
process
usually
wins.”  

“On
the
whole,
the
industry
is
highly
motivated
to
go
green,”

Mark
Mutter,
the
founder
of
Jamcem
Consulting,
an independent
cement
industry
consultancy,
told
CNBC.
Motivations
to
go
green
are
highest
for
producers
located
in
parts
of
the
world
such
as
Europe,
where
there
is
a
price
on
carbon
dioxide
emissions
at
around
80
euros
(almost
$88)
per
metric
ton.
That’s
“a
big
financial
penalty
for
producers
and
it
gives
them
an
incentive
to
invest”
in
green
cement
tech,
Mutter
told
CNBC.

That’s
one
reason
investors
are
putting
money
behind
Sublime.

“Customers
are
lining
up
to
partner
with
Sublime
because
they
can
supply fossil-free cement at
a
time
when
the
rest
of
the
industry
are
all
struggling
to
hit
emissions
targets
and
comply
with
carbon
tariffs,”

Clay
Dumas,
partner
at
LowerCarbon
Capital,
told
CNBC.

“For
Lowercarbon,
their
omnipresence
and
medieval
production
techniques are
precisely
the
qualities
that
make
building
materials
such
an
irresistible
opportunity,”
Dumas
told
CNBC.

Some
cement
producers
are
looking
at
carbon
capture
technologies
as
a
way
to
manage
their
greenhouse
gas
emissions.
But
“this
is
highly
costly,
and
in
some
respects
is
just
business
as
usual
and
burying
the
problem
for
future
generations,”
Mutter
told
CNBC.

Sublime
is
making
clean
cement
without
the
expensive
additive
of
carbon
capture
and
storage
technologies,
which
is
attractive
because
it
keeps
costs
low,
said

Katie
Rae,
CEO
at
The
Engine.
“Producing
decarbonized
cement
directly,
rather
than
doing
carbon
capture,
drives
both
energy
efficiency
and
eventual
cost
parity,”
Rae
told
CNBC. 

Dumas
said
Sublime
has
“the
most
elegant
chemistry,
which
runs
on
electricity
at
ambient
temperatures
while
emitting
zero
carbon.
That
means
they
have
no
need
for
big
ovens
or
costly
CO2-capture
systems
that
would
drive
up
capex.”

Siam
Cement
Group
looks
at
thousands
of
companies
and
makes
only
“a
few”
investments
a
year,

Timothy
McCaffery,
a
venture
investor
at
SCG,
told
CNBC.
For
SCG,
what’s
attractive
about
Sublime
is
that
it
avoids
the
complicated
and
expensive
carbon
capture
technology
and
works
with
existing
infrastructure.

“We
have
seen
that
Sublime
Systems
could
disrupt
the
industry. The
company
produces
a
cement
at
room
temperature
that
can
drop
into
the
existing
ready
mix
supply
chain
and
meets
American
Society
for
Testing
and
Materials
standards,”
McCaffery
told
CNBC.

American
Society
for
Testing
and
Materials
is
the
body
that
creates
test
standards
and
protocols
that
manufacturers
use
to
test
their
materials
against.

Sublime
completed
its
pilot
plant
at
the
end
of
2022
and
spent
a
few
months
on
quality
control
measures.
Now,
Ellis
is
focused
on
getting
the
product
to
partners,
and
the
company
hopes
to
do
its
first
construction
project
by
the
end
of
the
year.
The
next
step
is
to
go
from
the
100-ton
pilot
plant
to
a
30,000-ton-per-year
demonstration
plant.

While
Sublime
is
just
getting
ramped
up,
Ellis
knows
speed
is
essential
in
the
race
to
decarbonize.
“My
mission
is
to
have
a
swift
and
massive
impact
on
climate
change,”
she
told
CNBC
in
Boston.

It’s
an
audacious
goal,
and
while
Ellis
has
credentialed
chemistry
chops,
this
is
her
first
time
being
the
boss
of
a
company.

“I
suppose
I
am
aware
of
my
age.
And
I’m
also
humble
about
that.
I’m
a
first-time
founder.
I’m
a
first-time
CEO,”
Ellis
told
CNBC.
“I
figure
things
out
as
I
do
them.
And
I’m
really
lucky
to
have
great
mentors
and
support
and
people
who
believe
in
me,
and,
I
think,
who
recognize
the
fact
that
I
have
a
lot
of
energy,
and
I
have
a
lot
of
passion.
And
I’m
going
to
work
as
hard
as
I
can
for
as
long
as
I
can
to
make
this
happen.”

Ellis
knows
how
to
keep
herself
going,
too.
She
makes
sure
she
gets
good
sleep
and
she
stays
active.
She’s
run
seven
marathons.
She’s
a
cycler,
and
once
cycled
across
Africa
in
about
four
months
with
a
group,
a
trip
that
averaged
out
to
riding
more
than
60
miles
a
day.
She
also
participates
in
a
“fitness
cult”
that
climbs
the
Harvard
stadium
stairs
every
Sunday.

“I’m
not
a
fast
runner
at
all.
I’m
not
a
fast
cyclist
either,”
Ellis
told
CNBC.
“I
just
know
how
to
toe
that
effort
line
to
just
like
maintain
the
same
effort
for
a
very
long
time,
and
to
keep
my
own
spirits
up.”

For
Chiang,
building
solutions
keeps
him
moving
forward.

“It’s
been
about
15
years
since
the
words
‘climate
change’
entered
the
lexicon. It’s
been
a
gift,
and
very
energizing,
to
have
potentially
impactful
solutions
to
pursue,
as
opposed
to
sitting
and
fretting,”
Chiang
told
CNBC. 

“I
believe
climate
change
has
pushed
all
of
us
into
an
extremely
fertile,
creative
period
that
will
be
looked
back
on
as
a
true
renaissance.
After
all,
we’re
trying
to
re-invent
the
technological
tools
of
the
industrial
revolution. There’s
no
shortage
of
great
problems
to
work
on! 
And
time
is
short.”