In the United States, more than 45,000 U.S. bridges and 1 in 5 miles of roads are in poor condition. How come our infrastructure degrades so quickly if the Roman Empire’s Coliseum is still standing? For Benjamin Cook, founder and CEO of Zirconia, the concrete of our infrastructure is simply not made to last, it’s meant to be cheap. Ironically, low-quality materials are more expensive long-term than long-lasting ones. That’s why Cook and his team recreated the material used by the Romans as a coating to combine anti-erosion properties with cheap costs.
What is the problem that Zirconia is solving? Zirconia is ending corrosion of concrete, making concrete infrastructure virtually immortal (think bridges, buildings, dams, etc.). We are doing this by using a nano-scale Roman Cement, to convert the chemically unstable surface of concrete into an ultra-stable "skin of granite" which cannot corrode. This addresses a 3-trillion-dollar annual problem related to infrastructure corrosion globally.
Zirconia is ending the corrosion of concrete, making concrete infrastructure virtually immortal (think bridges, buildings, dams, etc.). We are doing this by using a nano-scale Roman Cement, to convert the chemically unstable surface of concrete into an ultra-stable “skin of granite” which cannot corrode.
This addresses a 3-trillion-dollar annual problem related to infrastructure corrosion globally.
Who is on your team and how did you come together?
Our team is led by Benjamin Cook, a seasoned entrepreneur with 30 years of experience building businesses focused on sustainability and breakthrough technologies. Benjamin has successfully founded and exited companies in environmental consulting, green building materials, and infrastructure repair, including GeoTree Technologies Inc., which delivered a 5x return to investors. With degrees in Conservation and Resource Studies from UC Berkeley and an MBA in Sustainable Business from Pinchot University, he also serves on boards like Adaptive Symbiotic Technologies, advancing sustainable agriculture.
(The inventor of the first generation of this technology was Dr. Balaguru at Rutgers University. I was headhunted by his son Muralee Balaguru, who had taken his father’s work and begun to build a business. Muralee was my partner before his illness, and early retirement. Muralee found me after I sold GeoTree Technologies, so the timing was good. Also, GeoTree’s Roman Cement technology has some similarities to Zirconia’s Roman Cement-based nano-ceramic coatings, so in some ways it was a natural fit.)
Jad Costandi, General Manager and Product Engineer, oversees production, manufacturing, and quality control, leveraging his Mechanical Engineering degree and exceptional focus, adaptability, and leadership skills. Supporting the team is Will Fultz, National Sales Manager, a seasoned sales strategist with over 20 years of experience in the coatings and construction industry. A former Marine and natural closer, Will has received numerous sales awards and excels at connecting with clients, making him an invaluable asset to the team.
What is Zirconia’s strategy to grow?
Zirconia’s strategy includes finding channel partners in infrastructure sectors such as dams and bridge renovation, and commercial construction renovation/preservation. By partnering with established companies in these areas, Zirconia aims to leverage existing market relationships, achieve larger volume sales, and accelerate growth.
We are also accessing clients and project sales via trade show marketing. Trade shows are a good way to meet contractors and engineering firms in our field and find the ones that are “first adopters”, as well as folks that have a problem that cannot be solved by other means. As you might imagine, the trade shows of interest include those related to concrete structures, including: dams, water storage, bridges, salt corrosion preservation, general concrete repair, and general infrastructure maintenance.
Zirconia is focused on several areas of concrete preservation:
- Concrete salt corrosion preservation: In regions of the Unites States that suffer from severe salt corrosion (Florida, US Gulf States), and also outside the United States (Arabian Gulf Countries) we are focused on becoming the standard coating technology that both repairs and prevents salt corrosion. This involves efforts to get our specification document adopted by general contractors and architects in each region.
- Concrete age-related preservation: We are working in the USA and UK to assist governments and municipalities with the restoration and preservation of concrete infrastructure which is often beyond its engineered lifespan. Sometimes we are restoring aging concrete water towers, or dams, other times we are fixing older seawalls.
What is your business model?
Zirconia is a manufacturer that sells directly through independent sales representatives and distribution. We are also currently evaluating large scale white label opportunities (cooperative channel partner distribution with another brand name, and also language like, “Powered by Zirconia Inc.”).
What does the competitive landscape look like and how do you differentiate?
We have no direct competition, which is good and bad. It’s good that nothing works nearly as well as our Ceramic Surface Treatment (CST) technology for preserving concrete. It’s bad because we have to do a great deal of market education, prior to broad adoption and volume sales. That being said, as we move forward with marketing, larger and larger sales volumes are now happening. And, the scale of our market is truly huge. In short, in the beginning it’s about education and finding first adopters willing to try new things.
Old technology like epoxy and polyurethane coatings from the 1950s are our current completion, relative to the coatings market. These are toxic and rely on “adhesion” a temporary state of “stickiness” that weakens and fails over time. Basically, these coatings are made to fail from concrete surfaces.
Zirconia’s Ceramic Surface Treatments are made to chemically bond permanently to concrete, forming an ultra-durable “skin of granite” making concrete virtually immortal.
If we speak again 12 months from now, which milestones will you have achieved?
Channel Partnership for 2025: We will have one large channel partner related to the roofing or building envelope preservation market. Three multinational, billion-dollar firms have approached us to be a channel partner for our technology, specifically in the area of roofing and building envelope preservation. (We would displace older toxic coating technologies).
Florida: We will have our next Notice of Approval from Miami-Dade County for our new Fortress CST coating system for waterproofing parking garages, balconies and other flat concrete surfaces. In 2025, our CST coating systems increasingly becomes the standard of care in south Florida for salt corrosion prevention/preservation. Would like to be above the $1M sales in this region alone.
California: We will have Caltrans approval for CST CeramycGuard as an anti-corrosion technology (e.g., protection from salts, carbonation), and our HeatShield topcoat approved as a fire-protective topcoat for concrete (preventing forest fires from damaging bridges/freeways, related to climate change adaption in California’s mountains).
United Kingdom: We are continuing to work with the Environment Agency in United Kingdom (UK) to preserve seawalls around the UK. (The UK has a massive seawall infrastructure initiative due to rising seas, and stronger storms flooding its cities. This is related to climate change adaption.)
Saudi Arabia: We would like to be approved by one of the state agencies like the water department for use in concrete preservation for water storage or desalination plants. Another use case might be for large oil companies concrete cooling tower preservation (cooling towers are similar to nuclear power plant versions in USA, each is a billion dollars). Salt corrosion is a huge problem in SA across multiple market sectors.
Financial: We would like to blow past our $2.4 million dollar sales goal for 2025.