A consortium formed by four major Belgian companies, Prefer, Fluxys Belgium, Lhoist and Orbix, was awarded €4.5 million (~$4.7 million) to help decarbonize the Belgian construction sector.
The consortium was selected by the Innovation Fund Small Scale to be awarded the grant, which will help bring to life the project called CO2ncrEAT.
CO2ncrEAT features an innovative technological approach to carbonation, which was developed by Orbix and provides a sustainable means to recover some of the co-products of steel manufacturing.
Namely, said co-products are mixed with carbon dioxide and result in the production of green building materials.
Initially, annual production is expected to exceed 100,000 tons of masonry blocks produced with the help of the novel technology, which, in turn, will help capture about 12,000 tons of CO2 emissions every year.
Furthermore, the raw materials will be made of recycled CO2, adding another 8,000 tons in avoided carbon emissions, bringing the total amount of emissions reduction to 20,000 tons of CO2 per year.
The CO2ncrEAT project will not require construction workers and companies to change any of their processes, as the masonry blocks are ready to simply replace the conventional concrete blocks in all types of buildings and help decarbonize the sector.
Read more: CarbonCure, Heirloom And Central Concrete Make Breakthrough In CO2 Removal And Storage
