With a new $2.2 million cooperative agreement from a key NETL program that works to create novel technologies and products from carbon ore and related wastes, a research and manufacturing company with facilities in the heart of Appalachia is one step closer to building a prototype structure with carbon materials, offering a chance at revitalizing the economy in economically distressed communities.

X-MAT®, with a manufacturing pilot line in Bluefield, West Virginia, has been developing carbon ore-derived building materials and, with the support of NETL’s Carbon Ore Processing (COP) program, has plans to build a prototype structure to test its roof tiles, siding panels, bricks, and blocks by 2023.  

According to X-MAT, its building materials are:

• Non-toxic and fire resistant, making them safer than traditional options.
• Light weight, allowing for a faster installation.
• Extremely strong and durable.
• Usable for both interior and exterior needs.
• Customizable, due to greater design flexibility.

Bill Easter, founder of X-MAT told Roofing Contractor magazine. “We’re honored to receive this funding to continue this revolutionary work to bring these innovative building products to the marketplace.”   

Support for the X-MAT agreement is just one project under NETL’s COP program portfolio. COP is also supporting the development of a range of products from high volume market products to high value market products, including building materials, cement additives, battery anodes, carbon fiber, graphite, and nanomaterials including graphene quantum dots — nanoparticles that are one atom thick and a few hundred atoms in diameter that can be used in composite plastics, batteries, water filtration systems and 3D printing materials.

Michael Fasouletos, a general engineer on NETL’s Minerals Sustainability Team, explained that innovation is needed to preserve jobs and expand new employment opportunities in mining communities.

“Using carbon ore and related wastes to create innovative new building materials while also creating new jobs could revitalize mining communities,” Fasouletos said. “Disruptive new technologies that enable these diverse products have the potential to remediate legacy environmental burdens and create jobs within communities that have been economically distressed.”

According to X-MAT, its roof tiles are not only stronger than those on the market, but also lighter: 2-3 times lighter than other ceramic tiles.

The most recent NETL award through COP is the latest in a series of grants and cooperative agreements issued by the Laboratory to the company over the past several years for evolving carbon ore-derived products. NETL originally supported efforts to establish the merit and commercial viability of the new building materials with a Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) Phase I grant.

NETL has awarded X-MAT and its partner, Semplastics, grants and cooperative agreements for a range of related research projects including $1.4 million to create new uses for mining waste, $2.9 million for X-TILES™ and a nearly $1 million contract to research a way to turn carbon ore into battery materials.

Semplastics, located in Florida, licensed the associated intellectual property to X-MAT CCC (Carbon Core Composites), a West Virginia company, to drive commercialization. X-MAT has established a manufacturing center in Bluefield to be close to key feedstocks.

NETL is a U.S. Department of Energy national laboratory that drives innovation and delivers technological solutions for an environmentally sustainable and prosperous energy future. By leveraging its world-class talent and research facilities, NETL is ensuring affordable, abundant and reliable energy that drives a robust economy and national security, while developing technologies to manage carbon across the full life cycle, enabling environmental sustainability for all Americans.

Top: Conceptual design of a house built with X-MAT materials.