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Carbon reduction innovation on show at Innovandi Open Challenge ‘Demo Day’

Published by , Assistant Editor
World Cement,


The Global Cement and Concrete Association (GCCA) has today revealed the latest results of its first ever Innovandi Open Challenge, its industry accelerator that partnered six start-ups from around the world with GCCA members to develop and commercialise new decarbonisation technologies.

  • Demo Day is culmination of Innovandi Open Challenge (launched in 2021) showcasing key results and progress of collaboration between chosen start-ups and leading cement and concrete companies at major innovation event in Düsseldorf.
  • The first-ever Innovandi Open Challenge matched 'brightest global start-ups' with cement and concrete manufactures - six starts-ups from around the world were selected to form consortia with GCCA member companies.
  • 2023 Innovandi Open Challenge will open in the New Year for start-up applications.

Carbon reduction innovation on show at Innovandi Open Challenge ‘Demo Day’

The two-day ‘Demo Day’ event took place in Düsseldorf, Germany and showcased the positive progress made by the six consortia during the Open Challenge, which began last year, included presentations from:

  • Carbon BioCapture – based in the USA, Carbon BioCapture’s patented technology for CO2 capture uses microalgae and requires no pre-treatment of industrial gases. It is being supported by Cementos Argos, CEMEX, CRH and Holcim.
  • CarbonOrO – based in the Netherlands, CarbonOrO uses bi-phasic amine with a lower cost of capture. It is being supported by CEMEX, Holcim, SCG, Titan Cement, UltraTech Cement and Votorantim Cimentos.
  • Carbon Upcycling Technologies – based in Canada, Carbon Upcycling Technologies chemically activates and captures CO2 within solid waste materials to produce a range of supplementary cementitious materials, to create low-carbon cement and concrete. It is being supported by Cementos Argos, CEMEX, CRH, Holcim, Shree Cement and Taiheiyo.
  • Coomtech – based in the UK, Coomtech has developed a low energy, low cost drying technology using managed turbulent air, creating kinetic energy to remove moisture. It is being supported by Buzzi Unicem, CRH, JSW Cement and UltraTech Cement.
  • Fortera – based in the USA, Fortera’s technology captures CO2 emissions from cement plants, combining it with calcium oxide to make reactive calcium carbonate. It is being supported by Cementos Argos, CRH, Holcim, JSW Cement, Taiheiyo Cement and Ultratech Cement.
  • MOF Technologies – based in the UK, it uses Metal-Organic Frameworks (MOFs) to deliver energy-efficient CO2 removal at a fraction of the cost of conventional amines. It is being supported by Buzzi Unicem, Cementir Holding and Heidelberg Materials.

Under each consortium, the start-ups have been provided with tailored mentoring and key resources to accelerate their innovative technologies, which reduce or eliminate carbon throughout the cement and concrete value chain. Each is made up of a start-up company and includes between three and eight cement companies, with 16 GCCA member companies involved across the six innovation consortia.

The focus for this year’s Open Challenge was carbon capture, utilisation, and storage (CCUS) and recycling in the value chain. CCUS includes a range of technologies and methods that “capture” CO2 from large sources – such as in industrial power generation. The CO2 is then either used on-site or compressed and transported to be used or stored elsewhere.

Thomas Guillot, GCCA Chief Executive, said: “Our Open Challenge has been a pioneering force and is already making significant progress in developing innovations that help us decarbonise faster.

“Innovation is crucial for our sector to achieve net zero and we recognise greater investment is essential to drive collaboration between start-ups and our industry to reach our net zero goal. Because of this, we are committing to permanently source the brightest start-ups to partner with in CCUS and we are launching a new Open Challenge in the New Year for other green innovations. We remain committed to supporting future generations, and we look forward to establishing more consortia that can unlock some of the world’s most complicated climate challenges in the future.”

Following the success of this year’s Open Challenge, the GCCA has committed to permanently look for potential carbon capture start-ups to collaborate with its members. CCUS is a key lever in its 2050 Roadmap for Net Zero Concrete, representing 36% of potential reductions.

At the event a new open challenge was announced which is set be launched in the early new year. It will look to pair start-ups with GCCA members in the field of low-carbon concrete.

The Innovandi Open Challenge Demo Day started on 17th October at VDZ in Düsseldorf, with the main Demo Day presentations on 18th October live for attending guests and broadcast around the world. To find out more about the Innovandi programme please visit here.

Read the article online at: https://www.worldcement.com/europe-cis/21102022/carbon-reduction-innovation-on-show-at-innovandi-open-challenge-demo-day/

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