Ozinga Partners with Meta and University of Illinois on Early-Stage, Low-Carbon Project at DeKalb, IL Data Center
April 28, 2022 (Mokena, IL) — In partnership with Meta and researchers at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign (UIUC), Ozinga’s expertise as an industry leader played an integral role in helping Meta field test an AI-powered concrete formula on multiple (noncritical) structures at Meta’s DeKalb, IL data center.
Meta had already committed to achieving net zero emissions across their value chain by 2030 and partnered with researchers at UIUC to develop a new AI model that optimizes concrete mixtures for sustainability as well as strength. The UIUC researchers trained an AI model using a Concrete Compressive Strength data set and Cement Sustainability Initiative’s Environmental Product Declaration tool to create several new concrete mixes.
Meta wanted to test the concrete formulas in the field and selected their data center in DeKalb, IL as an ideal location, given its proximity to UIUC. The resulting formulas were shared with Ozinga, which they further refined based on the company’s expertise as a 94-year old industry practitioner, local material availability, and the need to enable adequate strength gain under the cold weather conditions expected at Meta’s data center location. Ozinga used its industry knowledge and certified research and development laboratory in Chicago, IL to evaluate the proposed mixes. During this process, Ozinga made tweaks to allow for more efficient production of these mixes while ensuring significant carbon savings as well as the overall mix performance.
The final mix designs were then used on multiple (noncritical) structures at Meta’s DeKalb data center, namely the guardhouse floor slab and the floor slab of the construction management team’s temporary office space building. The field tests confirmed that the resulting low-emission concrete formula exceeded the 7-day and 28-day strength requirements, with a carbon impact 40 percent lower than the regional benchmark.
“As a fourth-generation family owned company, part of what we always strive to do is make a positive impact on everything we do, especially on the environment,” said Ryan Cialdella, Vice President of Innovation and Market Development at Ozinga, during Meta’s news conference on April 27.
Ryan discussed the partnership between Meta, UIUC and Ozinga during his speech and how this type of collaboration can further impact the construction industry in a positive way. “Working with Meta and UIUC enabled us to work on this project starting with the end user down to the general contractors and concrete contractors, come together to tweak the proposed mixes from UIUC’s AI model and receive buy-in from all the stakeholders. We can continue to use the field data, feed it back through the AI model and refine it to continue to push the boundaries on carbon reduction.”
Due to its success, Ozinga has continued to develop additional carbon-reducing mixtures, such as the CarbonSense™ line, that is now being used on additional buildings within the data center. This line of mixes offers varying degrees of carbon reduction across multiple strength classes helping owners work towards achieving their carbon reduction goals.
“We are always excited to be a part of projects that put an emphasis on sustainability,” said Justin Ozinga, President. “The collaboration between our research and development laboratory, the University of Illinois and the Meta team is a testament to the realities we’ve created that leave a greener footprint for generations to come.”
For pictures and videos related to this partnership, please use this link.
For more on this partnership, please visit this post on Meta’s Tech@ blog: https://tech.fb.com/engineering/2022/04/sustainable-concrete.