For Taein Lee, Engr \u201922\u00a0(PhD), inspiration struck\u00a0when a pipe burst in his\u00a0downtown Baltimore\u00a0rowhouse one winter.\u00a0\u201cThe whole ceiling, the\u00a0insulation, everything\u00a0just fell,\u201d he says. As Lee\u00a0cleaned up the damage,\u00a0he realized all that soggy\u00a0drywall would have to\u00a0be thrown away and\u00a0replaced. Was there\u00a0a way to make more\u00a0sustainable construction\u00a0materials, he wondered?\u00a0\u201cBeing an engineer, I try\u00a0to take things into my\u00a0own hands,\u201d he says.<\/p>\n
And so he did.<\/p>\n
In 2022, Lee formed a\u00a0company, JJ Innovative\u00a0Materials, with two other\u00a0Johns Hopkins alumni:\u00a0Mark B. Wo, Engr \u201916, who\u00a0serves as chief operations\u00a0officer, and Chu Ding,\u00a0Engr \u201920 (MSE), \u201922 (PhD),\u00a0director of compliance.\u00a0Lee is CEO. Their goal is\u00a0to make construction\u00a0materials that are\u00a0better for the planet.<\/p>\n
According to the\u00a0Environmental Protection\u00a0Agency, the U.S.\u00a0generates 600 million\u00a0tons of construction and\u00a0demolition waste each\u00a0year. Most of it ends up\u00a0in landfills. Traditional\u00a0drywall is mostly made\u00a0from gypsum, which,\u00a0under certain conditions,\u00a0can decompose into toxic\u00a0chemicals over time.<\/p>\n
Lee\u2019s idea was to develop a plant-rock bonding technology that integrates plants and cementitious materials to make a more sustainable drywall product. \u201cRecycled waste materials currently make up over 65% of our drywall,\u201d he says. \u201cWe want to boost that to 95%. Our goal is to make our drywall carbon negative.\u201d This means that the materials and process not only reduce carbon emissions, but actually remove more carbon dioxide from the atmosphere than is emitted.<\/p>\n
To make their drywall\u00a0cost-effective as well\u00a0as sustainable, Lee\u2019s\u00a0company uses plant waste\u00a0called \u201chemp hurds\u201d from\u00a0industrial hemp farms.\u00a0\u201cThere are tons of bales\u00a0of these rotting away on\u00a0farms,\u201d he explains. The\u00a0plants are used not just as\u00a0filler but also processed to\u00a0be completely physically\u00a0and chemically integrated\u00a0into the materials matrix.<\/p>\n
JJ Innovative Materials is currently scaling up its manufacturing capacity in a warehouse in Baltimore\u2019s Hampden neighborhood to serve its first customers\u2014residential construction firms.<\/p>\n
\u201cRecycled waste materials currently make up over 65% of our drywall. We want to boost that to 95%. Our goal is to make our drywall carbon negative.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u2014 Taein Lee<\/p><\/blockquote>\n
While Lee\u2019s PhD focus\u00a0was on organic electronic\u00a0materials, he\u2019s happy with\u00a0the unexpected turn his\u00a0career has taken. \u201cI wanted\u00a0to get my hands on more\u00a0immediate problems\u00a0that I could tackle with\u00a0my specialty. I wanted\u00a0to make tech that could\u00a0really have an impact.\u201d<\/p>\n