Engineered Cellular Magmatics Revolutionize Traditional Foam Glass Technology

Engineered Cellular Magmatics, known as ECMs, are a revolution in traditional foam glass technology that involves taking recycled materials, such as recycled glass or other feedstocks, crushing these materials into a powder and processing them thermally.

Five years ago the Advanced Research Projects Agency with the Department of Energy established a program seeking to create extremely durable cement. SRNL, along with the University of Utah and industry partner Silica X, was funded for a project centered on reverse engineering ancient Roman concrete. ECMs were the result of utilizing a process called geo mimicry that attempts to recreate natural materials from synthetic materials. Scientists and engineers can tailor these materials to products on the front end before the thermal processing occurs. This allows a level of control over the chemistry, the mineralogy and the physical properties of the final ECM. The result is a pumice-like substance that offers a variety of material filtering and storage capabilities.