immo!nvest – Die Plattform für Standorte und Immobilien

Tag: Recyclingbeton

  • Construction of new soil treatment plant for more sustainable concrete

    Construction of new soil treatment plant for more sustainable concrete

    STRABAG has broken ground for the construction of a wet-mechanical soil processing plant in Bürglen, according to a press release. The new plant will enable the extraction of recycled concrete from soil material and construction waste. STRABAG is also investing in a new building for its subsidiary Beton AG at the site.

    According to the company, the plant works like a “washing machine for stones”. The raw material from soils and building rubble is crushed with a crusher and then washed. In the next step, the clean stone is separated from metal, plastic, glass or wood and screened.

    The processed stones are then mixed with cement and water to produce new concrete for building houses and bridges as well as for road construction. The aim is to reduce the consumption of raw materials and promote a sustainable circular economy. “This protects the environment because we don’t have to extract as much new primary gravel from the earth. It also produces less waste,” they say.

    Installation of the plant technology is scheduled to begin in November 2025, with commissioning scheduled for autumn 2026. Production is set to begin in 2027.

  • New technology permanently stores CO₂ in recycled concrete

    New technology permanently stores CO₂ in recycled concrete

    Neustark and the joint venture RECULAR of the Oettinger Group and peterbeton are joining forces for the permanent storage of CO2 in recycled concrete. RECULAR, based in Baden-Baden, has tested Neustark’s technology for binding CO2 in granulate from demolition concrete in a pilot plant in the Karlsruhe region over the past few months, Neustark announced in a press release. On 26 February, the partners presented the technology and the initial results from the pilot plant at an event.

    The pilot project forms the basis for further collaboration between Neustark, the Oettinger Group and peterbeton. “We can store an average of 10 kilograms of CO2 per tonne of demolition material, making it a CO2 sink,” Thomas Karcher, Managing Director of peterbeton, is quoted as saying in the press release. His company is responsible for processing and distributing the CO2-enriched recycled concrete in the project. The Oettinger Group is responsible for procuring and processing the demolition concrete.

    “We are delighted to be working with our partners Oettinger and peterbeton to open the first CO2 storage facility of its kind in Karlsruhe and the third in Germany,” explains Valentin Gutknecht, co-founder and co-CEO of Neustark. “This project shows how innovative technologies and local collaboration can shape the future.” There are currently 29 systems with Neustark technology in operation in Europe. Neustark is also involved in the planning or construction of a further 30 plants.

  • New plant for the mineralisation of CO2 in Alsace

    New plant for the mineralisation of CO2 in Alsace

    Neustark and Fehr are joining forces for the permanent storage of CO2 in recycled concrete. The two partners have opened the first commercial CO2 storage facility in Alsace, Neustark writes in a press release. Bern-based ClimateTech has developed a technology with which CO2 captured from biogas plants can be stored in demolition concrete. At Fehr in Bischwiller, the aim is to bind 1200 tonnes of CO2 every year.

    The family-run company Fehr operates ten concrete plants and four production facilities for precast concrete elements. “Fehr is one of the pioneers of sustainable building materials in France,” said Valentin Gutknecht, co-founder and co-CEO of Neustark, in the press release. “Through our strategic partnership, we can implement our innovative and ready-to-use technology and thus offer a local alternative to storing CO2 underground or in the sea.”

    Fehr receives the CO2 from a nearby plant for the production of biomethane. At the production facility in Bischwiller, it is added to the demolition concrete, where it mineralises within hours thanks to Neustark’s technology. Another part of the CO2 is fed into the mixed water produced during concrete production, where it reacts with the mineral substances in the mixed water and forms stable salts (carbonates) thanks to Neustark’s technology. In addition to the permanent storage of CO2, this also reduces the costs for the disposal of the mixed water, writes Neustark.

  • 69 million dollars secured for CO2 storage technology

    69 million dollars secured for CO2 storage technology

    Neustark has secured financing totalling 69 million dollars. According to a press release, the ClimateTech company from Bern was supported by the Decarbonisation Partners financing fund, a partnership between BlackRock and Temasek, with the backing of Blume Equity. UBS initiated debt financing. Existing financiers Siemens Financial Services, Verve Ventures, ACE Ventures and Holcim also participated in the new capital round.

    Neustark intends to use the acquired funds to strengthen its position in Europe and gain new markets in America and Asia.

    Neustark, a spin-off from the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology in Zurich(ETH), has developed a process in which CO2 is converted into limestone, which is bound to the pores and surface of the concrete granulate. The carbonated granulate can then be used in road construction or for the production of recycled concrete. According to the company, Neustark currently operates 19 plants with this technology in Germany, Liechtenstein, Austria and Switzerland. The company aims to store 1 million tonnes of carbon dioxide from the air by 2030.

  • Sustainable CO2 storage in the concrete plant

    Sustainable CO2 storage in the concrete plant

    The gravel and concrete plant of Ch. Gerster AG is the first company in Liechtenstein to offer the Neustark process for storing CO2. The CO2 is mineralised on site in Gerster’s concrete granulate called granulite, which in turn is obtained from demolition concrete. This granulate is also a component of Gerster’s Rainulit recycled concrete. “We are thus presenting a solution for reducing CO2 emissions in the construction industry,” says a statement from Gerster.

    In the plant developed by the Bern-based ClimateTech company Neustark, gaseous CO2 of biological origin reacts with lime produced during cement production. This mineralisation process produces limestone again. As the CO2 would only be released again at a temperature of over 700 degrees, it remains permanently bound in the limestone and is therefore permanently removed from the air. According to Neustark’s own press release, the Ch. Gerster AG plant can permanently store 100 tonnes of CO2 per year.

    Neustark now has 19 separation and storage plants, transforming the world’s largest waste stream – demolition concrete – and other mineral waste materials into carbon sinks. According to its own figures, the spin-off from the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology in Zurich(ETH) has so far permanently removed 1719 tonnes of CO2 from the air. Its goal is to reach 1 million tonnes by 2030.

  • Pilot project measures potential of CO2 in recycled concrete

    Pilot project measures potential of CO2 in recycled concrete

    A pilot project led by the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology Zurich(ETH) in collaboration with experts from the Swiss Federal Laboratories for Materials Testing and Research (Empa), the ETH Domain’s Water Research Institute(Eawag), the Paul Scherrer Institute(PSI) and the companies Kästli Bau from Rubigen BE and neustark from Bern, as well as 18 other partners, has shown that concrete demolition granulate fumigated with CO2 can save around 15 per cent of the greenhouse gas produced during its manufacture.

    A total of 10 percent of this is achieved by the novel building materials enriched with carbonated concrete granulates. Another 5 to 7 percent can be achieved because the concrete granulate enriched with CO2 makes the cement compounds in recycled concrete stronger than normal concrete. This is the result of complex measurements carried out by Andreas Leemann of Empa’s Concrete & Asphalt Department, among others: “A reactive phase, in other words, which is newly formed in the granulate and produces a higher strength in the recycled concrete. That surprised us,” he is quoted as saying in a media release.

    Further potential was also shown by the CO2 treatment of the so-called recycling water from water, cement and sand, which is produced during the cleaning of concrete vehicles and mixing plants. One kilogram of it could bind the considerable amount of 120 grams of CO2 gas. Life cycle analyses have summed up that the carbonated material can reduce the greenhouse effect by about 13 per cent net compared to concrete with conventional cement and without recycled material. For concrete with recycled material, the effect is still 9 percent.

    The project leaders will present the research results to the public at the so-called closing event. It will take place on 6 December at ETH’s Audi Max.