The relatively simple concept was hatched over a decade ago: use an additive to improve concrete so it can resist the ravages of the environment for much longer without compromising the qualities that make it the most widely used material on the planet.

Concrete is a dirty word, with its production accounting for vast quantities of CO2, but the inescapable fact is its ubiquitousness is due to it being highly versatile, cost effective and relatively impermeable.

Enter Eden Innovations, which saw there had been very limited progress in the concrete space for the past 20 years and in 2010 created an admixture using carbon nanotubes that fill in spaces between hydrated cement particles, helping to prevent porous openings that develop when concrete dries and allows water to penetrate or cracks to develop.

The company says the flexible carbon “bridges” throughout the structure vastly improves resistance to failure caused by bending stresses and abrasion, which is a particular problem at shorelines where there is constant movement of sand.

The product was trialled earlier this year on runways at the third busiest container port in the US at Savannah, Georgia, where a massive expansion to more than double capacity is under way for the next 6-7 years.

It exceeded the port authority’s expectations, Eden Innovations executive chairman Greg Solomon said.

“We achieved way beyond the minimum strength requirements,” Mr Solomon told NCA NewsWire.

Eden is working on a standard marine mix for structures built in the ocean and hopes to secure some of the major work planned for berths at the port.

“That (product) would have absolute direct relevance for any marine application in the world,” Mr Solomon said.

Reflecting on Australia’s ravaged coastline, particularly recent scenes in NSW where properties are literally collapsing into the ocean, he said he was optimistic it could play a big role in any future reinforcement efforts.

“Rising ocean levels is a really, really serious issue,” Mr Solomon said.

“It’s a big deal.”

The company’s product is also being used in the US in many applications, including highway and bridge projects in Georgia, Colorado and Texas, a sewerage plant and a major tyre manufacturer’s storage facility in South Carolina, mid-rise construction in New York and, as announced to the ASX on Friday, at a major sports stadium.

But it is yet to break into the Australian market, where regulators are concerned the nanoparticles used in the product could cause respiratory illness.

Mr Solomon said the nanoparticles were bonded into the EdenCrete liquid, shaped differently to the fibres in asbestos that cause mesothelioma, and had been given the tick of approval by America’s National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health.

He hopes the green light will be given in Australia before the end of this year.