In a deep-tech twofer, Brimstone aims to secure U.S. aluminum supply

Alumina is the precursor to aluminum, a material essential to energy, defense, trans­porta­tion, and manu­fac­turing. Yet the U.S. remains heavily dependent on imports of alumina, primarily from China, as well as on bauxite, the primary source of alumina.

Having already developed the world’s first zero-carbon portland cement, DCVC portfolio company Brimstone has devised a way to produce smelter-grade alumina without relying on bauxite. The company’s proprietary ​“Rock Refinery” approach unlocks two essential materials — cement and alumina — from a single abundant feedstock. It’s a deep-tech twofer that can strengthen America’s construc­tion and aluminum supply chains in one stroke.

Every step of Brimstone’s process is commer­cially validated, but the company is the first to combine them in this way. Doing so unlocks multiple effi­cien­cies: Brimstone’s technology not only extracts alumina from calcium silicate rocks, which make up a significant share of the Earth’s crust, but it also avoids the energy-intensive Bayer process used for refining bauxite. Moreover, the company’s approach will require no green premium at full industrial scale — their alumina, cement, and supple­men­tary cemen­ti­tious materials (SCM) will sell at market price while delivering superior economics to conventional processes.

Brimston’s alumina announce­ment comes at a critical moment. Global supply chains face mounting pressures, and U.S. poli­cy­makers increas­ingly recognize the strategic imperative of domestic production capacity for essential materials. With China accounting for roughly 60 percent of global alumina and aluminum production and U.S. demand expected to grow by nearly 30 percent by 2050, securing domestic supply has never been more urgent.

Brimstone’s approach represents exactly the kind of creative industrial solution America needs. The company’s vision has already earned substantial federal support, with the Department of Energy having selected Brimstone for up to $189 million in funding for its first commercial demonstration plant.

By extracting multiple high-value products from a single feedstock, Brimstone can achieve what neither cement plants nor alumina refineries can accomplish alone: competitive economics without envi­ron­mental compromise. As Brimstone advances toward pilot operations and full commercial demon­stra­tion by decade’s end, it’s proving that the future of American manu­fac­turing lies not in choosing between economic and envi­ron­mental priorities, but in engineering solutions that deliver both. In doing so, it’s helping build a more resilient, sustainable, and self-reliant industrial base for the 21^st century.