LOS GATOS, Calif.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Jan 27, 2026--
Blue Planet Systems Corporation and Hargrove Engineers & Constructors announced today the execution of a Master Service Contract to advance the design and scale-up of Blue Planet’s unique technology platform that efficiently converts CO2 from any source into high value construction materials.
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Blue Planet’s patented Geomimetic® mineralization approach sequesters and permanently stores CO2 in the built environment in synthetic limestone aggregate used in carbon neutral and carbon negative concrete and other building products. Blue Planet believes that its CO2 mineralization process is the most thermodynamically efficient, gigaton scalable, and rapidly deployable carbon capture utilization and sequestration (CCUS) approach currently available.
This partnership with Hargrove to provide engineering design and technical services will provide valuable support as Blue Planet continues to scale-up and build upon the technology knowledge base that has been acquired at Blue Planet’s carbon mineralization facility on the San Francisco Bay that has been operating for over three years.
Distinct from other carbon capture approaches, Blue Planet’s patented technology and closed-loop processes mimic the low energy chemistry in nature responsible for the formation of limestone, which holds over 95% of all carbon on Earth and is the second most used natural material, only after water. Blue Planet’s approach is increasingly recognized as a critical alternative to other carbon capture and storage approaches that involve capture, purification, compression, transportation and monitoring of CO2 for injection into underground wells.
Brent Constantz, Blue Planet’s Founder, CEO and Chief Scientist, noted, “We are pleased to have the engineering and technical support of Hargrove as we continue to improve the design and continue scale-up of our low and negative embodied carbon building materials facility.”
Jim Vicknair CCM, California Operations Leader for Hargrove, added, “We are excited to be working with Blue Planet and their partners to rapidly advance commercialization of this unique and highly impactful approach to decarbonization of CO2 emitting processes via direct carbon mineralization.”
ABOUT
Blue Planet Systems produces coarse and fine limestone aggregate made from sequestered CO2 utilizing a proprietary and highly efficient carbon mineralization process inspired by nature. Its products are used in CarbonStar® rated concrete. Blue Planet’s mission is to mineralize billions of tons of CO2 and store it permanently in the built environment. For more information please visit blueplanetsystems.com
Founded in Mobile, Alabama in 1995, Hargrove Engineers & Constructors is a full-service EPC, automation, life sciences, operations, equipment solutions, and technical services firm. Company leadership states that Hargrove’s success stems from their time-tested culture of relationship-building – working as “One Team” with their clients to meet and exceed expectations – and their ownership structure, as 100% employee-owned. Hargrove’s technical and professional staff includes process discipline engineers experienced in the needs of the diverse clients they serve, now with over 2,700 Teammates in 17 domestic and 2 international offices companywide. For more information about Hargrove, please visit hargrove-epc.com
Recent delivery of equipment for plant scale up to SF Bay Area plant site – Jan 2026
SEOUL, South Korea (AP) — French President Emmanuel Macron and South Korean President Lee Jae Myung agreed Friday to work together to help reopen the Strait of Hormuz and ease global economic uncertainties caused by the war in the Middle East.
Their summit in Seoul came as U.S. President Donald Trump slammed allies for not supporting the U.S. and Israeli war against Iran. Macron was making his first visit to South Korea since taking office in 2017, as part of an Asian tour that already has taken him to Japan.
Macron told Lee at the start of the meeting that the two countries can play a role in helping to stabilize the situation in the Middle East, including Iran’s chokehold on the Strait of Hormuz, which has unleashed shock on global energy markets.
At a joint televised briefing afterward, Macron underscored the need for France and South Korea to cooperate to help reopen the strait and deescalate Middle East animosities, while Lee said the two affirmed “their resolves to cooperate to secure the safe shipping route in the Strait of Hormuz.”
The two leaders did not take questions and did not elaborate on how they would help reopen the strait — the narrow waterway between Iran and Oman through which about one-fifth of the world’s oil usually passes.
“We need to clearly define, at the international level, the conditions for a process to ease the crisis and conflict in the Middle East,” Macron said. “We need to ensure that the Strait of Hormuz is reopened.”
Lee said he and Macron agreed to expand cooperation in technology, energy and other areas. South Korean and French officials also signed agreements to cooperate on nuclear fuel supply chains, jointly invest in an offshore wind project in southern South Korea and to collaborate on critical minerals. South Korea has moved to increase output at its nuclear reactors to mitigate the energy crunch and Lee has also called for a faster transition to renewable energy, saying the war has exposed the country’s heavy reliance on fossil fuel imports.
Macron’s Asia trip comes as Trump has ramped up his frustration with allies. In a speech Wednesday, Trump said Americans “don’t need” the strait but the countries who do “must grab it and cherish it.”
In an earlier Easter event at the White House, Trump called for his allies in Asia and China to get involved in reopening the waterway.
“Let South Korea, you know, we only have 45,000 soldiers in harm’s way over there, right next to a nuclear force — let South Korea do it,” Trump said. “Let Japan do it. They get 90% of their oil from the strait. Let China do it.”
The United States stations about 28,000 troops in South Korea, not the 45,000 stated by Trump. The U.S. troops’ deployment in South Korea is meant to deter potential aggressions from North Korea.
Macron has said reopening the Strait of Hormuz through a military operation is unrealistic.
South Korean officials have said they are in contact with Washington on the issue and that Seoul isn’t considering paying Iran transit fees to secure fuel shipments through the strait.
French President Emmanuel Macron, front left, his wife Brigitte Macron, back center, and South Korean President Lee Jae Myung, front right, and his wife Kim Hea Kyung, right, attend the welcome ceremony at the presidential Blue House in Seoul Friday, April 3, 2026. (Jung Yeon-je /Pool Photo via AP)
French President Emmanuel Macron, center, his wife Brigitte Macron, left, and South Korean President Lee Jae Myung, right, and his wife Kim Hea Kyung, second left, attend the welcome ceremony at the presidential Blue House in Seoul Friday, April 3, 2026. (Jung Yeon-je /Pool Photo via AP)
French President Emmanuel Macron, second left, talks with South Korean President Lee Jae Myung, second right, during their meeting at the Blue House in Seoul, South Korea, Friday, April 3, 2026. (Jung Yeon-je/Pool Photo via AP)
French President Emmanuel Macron shakes hands with South Korean President Lee Jae Myung during their meeting at the Blue House in Seoul, South Korea, Friday, April 3, 2026. (Jung Yeon-je/Pool Photo via AP)
