News | August 21, 2013

San Jose's Zero Waste Energy Development Facility Turned To U.S. Concrete's San Francisco Bay Area Operating Company To Meet Their Accelerated Schedule And Devise Concrete Mixes For Its Waste Recovery System

Dry Anaerobic Digester Turns Organic Waste Into Electricity and High-Quality Compost

Euless, TX (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) - Central Concrete Supply Co., Inc., a U.S. Concrete, Inc. (Nasdaq:USCR) company, and the leader in delivering low-CO2 concrete to the San Francisco Bay Area, along with Jos. J. Albanese, a leading Bay Area concrete contractor, today announced that they developed several innovative concrete solutions to address the aggressive specifications required by the Zero Waste Energy Development Facility currently under construction in San Jose, California. Not only did Central Concrete and Jos. J. Albanese respond to a significant acceleration in the schedule, but they devised mixes and placement solutions that addressed the unique issues faced when working with waste materials. The project is being constructed by South Bay Construction, Inc., a leading construction firm, with headquarters in Campbell, California.

San Jose's Zero Waste Energy Development Facility is targeted for completion in December 2013 and is expected to be the largest Dry Anaerobic Digestion (AD) facility in the United States. The Dry AD process converts high solid organic waste into green energy. It is projected that the plant will be capable of processing 90,000 tons of waste and producing up to 1.6 megawatts of renewable power. This is enough to power 2000 homes.

The key to building a plant of this type was making sure that the waste materials, such as methane gas, were properly contained. In addition, the team needed to address the corrosive nature of these waste products. In response to these challenges, Central Concrete evaluated several mix design combinations, both in the field and in the lab, to produce the desired performance. The result—dense, durable concrete mixes with tight, low shrinkage specifications. These mixes not only delivered the low water/cement ratio required, but the highly workable mixes allowed Jos. J. Albanese's crew to place the concrete more efficiently, significantly helping them to meet the accelerated build schedule.

The Jos. J. Albanese team applied the Central Concrete mixes using a process called wet-mix shotcrete. This process involved pumping Central's prepared concrete through a nozzle. Compressed air is then introduced and a "gun" delivers the concrete. Not only does this wet-mix process allow larger volumes to be placed in less time, but the ability to adjust the water allowed the team to meet the hardening properties required for the job. In addition, the teams from Central and Jos. J. Albanese poured and placed five extremely large mat floors in the very early hours of the morning to further assist the owner in accelerating the schedule.

"We chose to work with Jos. J Albanese and Central Concrete on this project for their knowledge in shotcrete applications and their ability to get it done," said Jim Richley, Sr. Project Manager of South Bay Construction.

San Jose's Zero Waste Energy Development Facility

For more information on Zero Waste Energy, LLC: http://www.zerowasteenergy.com

Resources: Images

  • Contact Anne Banta, Central Concrete, at anne@banta.org for images. Various images can be viewed by visiting: Central Concrete Zero Waste Images.
  • Images are also available for viewing on South Bay Construction's Facebook page. Visit: https://www.facebook.com/SouthBayConstruction/photos_albums

About South Bay Construction, Inc.
Launched in 1975, South Bay Construction provides comprehensive construction services for new shell buildings, steel-frame structures, tenant improvements, state-of-the-art renovations, historical renovations and a range of rehabilitation projects. South Bay Construction covers the entire Bay Area - Monterey to Napa and the Pacific Coast to Sacramento. For more information, visit www.sbci.com.

About Jos. J. Albanese, Inc.
Jos. J. Albanese has been a leader in the Northern California construction community since its beginning in 1955. The company offers services in structural concrete, site concrete, demolition, grading, paving, rebar, and pumping. For more information, visit http://www.jjalbanese.com.

About Central Concrete
Central Concrete Supply Co., Inc., a business unit of U.S. Concrete, Inc. (Nasdaq:USCR), has been serving the San Francisco Bay Area for over 60 years. The company is recognized for engineering higher-performing concrete than traditional concrete, while significantly lowering carbon footprints with its low-C02 mixes.

Unlike traditional concrete, Central's standard mixes deliver 50% or greater cement replacement materials, thereby significantly reducing the carbon footprint of the project under construction. Central Concrete is recognized for supplying its low-CO2 mixes to numerous San Francisco Bay Area signature projects, including the Cathedral of Christ the Light Church, Oakland; California Academy of Sciences, San Francisco – the world's greenest museum; NASA Ames Sustainability Base, Mountain View – the greenest federal building in the U.S.; David and Lucile Packard Foundation, Los Altos – largest net-zero private office building in Calif.; the San Francisco Public Utilities Commission (SFPUC) headquarters – San Francisco's greenest office building; and the new Santa Clara 49er Football Stadium.

With 12 locations in the San Francisco Bay Area, Central Concrete offers multiple points of service to meet the diverse operational needs of its customers. For more information, visit www.centralconcrete.com.

About U.S. Concrete
U.S. Concrete services the construction industry in several major markets in the United States through its two business segments: ready-mixed concrete and aggregate products. The Company has 105 fixed and 11 portable ready-mixed concrete plants and seven producing aggregates facilities. During 2012, U.S. Concrete produced approximately 4.8 million cubic yards of ready-mixed concrete and approximately 3.3 million tons of aggregates. For more information on U.S. Concrete, visit www.us-concrete.com.

CAUTIONARY STATEMENT REGARDING FORWARD-LOOKING STATEMENTS
This press release contains various forward-looking statements and information that are based on management's belief, as well as assumptions made by and information currently available to management. These forward-looking statements speak only as of the date of this press release. The Company disclaims any obligation to update these statements and cautions you not to rely unduly on them. Forward-looking information includes, but is not limited to, statements regarding: the stability of the business; encouraging nature of second quarter volume and pricing increases; ready-mix backlog; ability to maintain our cost structure and the improvements achieved during our restructuring and monitor fixed costs; ability to maximize liquidity, manage variable costs, control capital spending and monitor working capital usage; and the adequacy of current liquidity. Although U.S. Concrete believes that the expectations reflected in such forward-looking statements are reasonable, it can give no assurance that those expectations will prove to have been correct. Such statements are subject to certain risks, uncertainties and assumptions, including, among other matters: general and regional economic conditions; the level of activity in the construction industry; the ability of U.S. Concrete to complete acquisitions and to effectively integrate the operations of acquired companies; development of adequate management infrastructure; departure of key personnel; access to labor; union disruption; competitive factors; government regulations; exposure to environmental and other liabilities; the cyclical and seasonal nature of U.S. Concrete's business; adverse weather conditions; the availability and pricing of raw materials; the availability of refinancing alternatives; and general risks related to the industry and markets in which U.S. Concrete operates. Should one or more of these risks materialize, or should underlying assumptions prove incorrect, actual results or outcomes may vary materially from those expected. These risks, as well as others, are discussed in greater detail in U.S. Concrete's filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission, including U.S. Concrete's Annual Report on Form 10-K for the year ended December 31, 2012 and subsequent Quarterly Reports on Form 10-Q.

© Copyright 2013, GlobeNewswire, Inc. All Rights Reserved.

Source: U.S. Concrete