Neustark inaugurates its largest CO2 storage facility
The Bernese start-up Neustark has built its ninth and so far largest facility for storing CO2 in demolition concrete on a demolition site in Biberist. With its technology and partners Alluvia and Vigier Beton, granulate is enriched with CO2 there and can be reused.
Neustark, a pioneer in the permanent removal of carbon from the atmosphere, is launching its largest ever facility for storing CO2 in demolition concrete. It has been built in Biberist on the demolition site of a paper mill and was planned together with the two demolition recycling and concrete production companies Alluvia AG and Vigier Beton, according to a media release. The two companies operate the facility.
The Bern-based company, which was spun out of the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology Zurich in 2019, is tackling the world’s largest waste stream with its technology: Neustark has developed a technology and a value chain that transforms demolition concrete into a carbon sink.
To do this, the company works with biogas plants to capture CO2 there. It is then transported to nearby storage facilities where the CO2 is injected into the granules of demolition concrete. This triggers a mineralisation process. In the process, the CO2 is converted into limestone and thus permanently bound to the granulate. Recyclers can reuse the granulate enriched in this way according to the usual process.
“Neustark was the first company to demonstrate in practice that permanent CO2 storage through mineralisation in concrete demolition makes economic and ecological sense,” founder and co-CEO Johannes Tiefenthaler is quoted as saying. In its first months of operation, Neustark says it has already permanently removed more than 300 tonnes of CO2. The goal is to reach at least 1 million by 2030. Further plants are currently being built in Germany, Austria and France. Clients include UBS, Microsoft and Verdane.