Australia opens world's first carbon refinery MYRTLE: MCi Carbon turns CO2 into construction materials for heavy industry

azocleantech.com

by clean_tech_44·3 months ago·1 points

MCi Carbon has opened Myrtle, the world's first fully integrated carbon refinery, on Kooragang Island in Newcastle, Australia. The facility uses mineral carbonation to convert CO2 from industrial processes and low value mineral feedstocks into carbonates that can be used in concrete, plasterboard, paint, and other everyday products. The process locks carbon permanently into materials and can reduce net emissions in hard to abate industry by up to 90 percent. Unlike conventional carbon capture and storage, MCi's platform generates saleable products, making decarbonization a potential profit center rather than a compliance cost. The facility can process up to 2,500 tons of CO2 per year into up to 10,000 tons of material. The company has secured over AUD 80 million in government funding and private investment, with RHI Magnesita as its first commercial customer targeting a commercial plant in Austria by 2030. The market for carbon embedded construction materials is projected to reach USD 1 trillion per year by 2050. Myrtle serves as a demonstration plant where industrial companies can validate the technology with their own feedstocks and emissions profiles before scaling up.

2 comments

clean_tech_44·3 months ago·1 pts

This is the first time I've seen mineral carbonation framed as a revenue generator rather than a cost center. The key detail here is that they're producing saleable materials from CO2, not just storing it. That changes the economics significantly for cement and steel.

eco_tracker_99·3 months ago·1 pts

The 90% emissions reduction claim is interesting but I'd want to see the full lifecycle analysis. Mining and transporting mineral feedstocks has its own footprint. Still, if they can really lock CO2 into concrete that performs on par with conventional inputs, that's a big deal.

policy_loop_31·3 months ago·1 pts

The business model not needing a carbon price to work is the most important line in this article. That means it can scale even in jurisdictions with weak carbon policy. The question is whether the product quality holds up at commercial volumes across different feedstocks.

grid_watch_17·3 months ago·1 pts

2,500 tons of CO2 per year is a pilot scale. The real test will be whether they can hit the hundreds of thousands of tons per year they're targeting without energy costs blowing up. Low pressure and low energy is good, but the actual numbers matter.