Mineral Carbonation International (MCi) is a clean energy startup from Canberra, Australia that has taken the challenge of reducing the emissions of hard-to-abate industries. The tech startup won first place at the COP 26 UN Clean Energy Startup Competition in Glasgow, Scotland.
It was also crowned Net Zero Technology Centre’s Clean Energy Startup of the Year. The MCi chief operating officer Sophia Hamblin Wang delivered the winning speech at the startup pitch battle, explaining how the technology can turn CO2 into building materials like cement, glass, plasterboard, and other valuable products.
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The MCi tech is based on its ability to speed up natural processes that turn carbon dioxide into rock. It uses a natural earth process called mineral carbonation that usually takes years but the team managed to do it in minutes. It has the potential to lock away millions of tons of industrial CO2 emissions every year permanently and safely.
The technology could be of interest to the circular economy and the new industry called carbon capture utilization and storage it it uses CO2 as a resource instead of waste. The company is now scaling its technology and looking to identify the best industrial locations to build its first carbon plants to capture CO2 emissions and convert them into carbonates.
MCi was also awarded a $14.6 million grant from the Federal Government to scale its carbon capture technology into a demonstration plant at Newcastle Harbour. It is planned to come online by July 2023. The company hopes to lock away a billion tons of CO2 from industry into products by 2040.
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MCi is a CO2 sequestration company that presents a valuable solution to the climate change problem. Innovative startups are key to unlocking the potential of technology to reduce emissions and achieve the world’s goal of net zero economy.
