Finland – Lakan Betoni and Vantaa Energy led the EUR 1.8 million round of seed funding for Carbonaide, a Finnish spin-off firm from the VTT Technological Research Centre that facilitates the production of carbon-negative concrete.
Public loans and in-kind donations from Business Finland, other Finnish concrete producers, and strategic investors helped to close the round.
With the money, the business plans to incorporate CO2 curing technology into an automated manufacturing line at its precast concrete factory in Hollola, Finland. Carbonaide can mineralize up to five tonnes of CO2 per day and increase production of its carbon-negative concrete products by a factor of 100 thanks to its factory-sized pilot unit and fully functional value chain.
CO2 emissions
8% of the world’s CO2 emissions are attributed to the concrete industry, with the majority coming from the production of ordinary Portland cement, which emits 800-900 kilogrammes of CO2 per tonne. Industrially practicable methods to minimise the CO2 emissions of concrete are urgently needed as regulations governing construction material emissions become more stringent.
Carbonaide solution
The solution provided by Carbonaide is based on an efficient carbonation technique that uses an automated system operating at atmospheric pressure to bind carbon dioxide to precast concrete. By lowering the necessary cement content and mineralizing CO2 into concrete, the method can reduce the CO2 emissions of conventional Portland cement concrete by half.
Concrete with a negative carbon footprint is produced when industrial side streams, such as industry slags, green spirits, and bio-ash, are used in the binding process instead of regular cement. CO2 is permanently stored and eliminated from the carbon cycle during the procedure.
The goal of Carbonaide is to have ten operating facilities in the Nordic region by 2026 and to bind 500 megatons of carbon dioxide annually by 2050, which equates to 10–20% of the global concrete market.
