A consortium led by Técnicas Reunidas, with the participation of Cementos Cruz, Ferrovial and Urdecón, develops CO2MCHRETE, a new technological solution for carbon capture in industrial processes

The CO2MCHRETE project, funded by the Centre for the Development of Industrial Technology and Innovation (CDTI) under the 2024 call of its Misiones programme, has demonstrated the feasibility of capturing carbon in residues from the construction and steel industries.

In line with the carbon capture taxonomy established in European legislation, the sequestration of carbon present in CO₂ and its solid fixation (mineralisation) provides evidence of effective and measurable emissions abatement.

By focusing on two industries with particularly challenging emissions to reduce (hardtoabate sectors)—construction and steelmaking—the consortium offers a technological pathway that delivers positive impact at three levels. First, it achieves effective carbon capture. Second, the resulting material can be used in the production of cements and concretes, reducing the amount of carbon required per kilogram of material used in their manufacture. Third, by using steel slags and construction waste, the process gives a second life to materials that would otherwise end up in landfills.

This technological development has been made possible through collaboration between the participating companies and various research organisations, including the CTC Technology Centre in Cantabria, TECNALIA in the Basque Country, the University of CastillaLa Mancha (UCLM) in Ciudad Real, and the Polytechnic University of Cartagena in Murcia. This has created a research and collaboration network across several Spanish regions, further reinforced by the involvement of the companies’ different operational centres.

The results obtained to date are promising, although continued investment in knowledge and development will be required to bring the solution to industrial scale.
The project has reached Technology Readiness Level 5 (TRL 5), a metric used in technological innovation to assess maturity and proximity to industrial application. TRL 5 indicates that the technology has been successfully demonstrated in an integrated manner at laboratory scale. However, further advancements will be necessary to reach a relevant industrial environment (TRL 6–7) and, ultimately, a marketready solution, at which point the technology would be between TRL 8 (first commercial unit) and TRL 9 (industrial reference).

In parallel, demonstrating the economic viability of the industrial solution from the early stages is essential to ensure that the investment made by the companies, along with CDTI’s support, translates into competitive advantage.

The strategic composition of the consortium has enabled the companies to cover the full industrial value chain—from waste generation and treatment through to the assessment of its properties for use in construction materials across different applications. The project has also opened the door to developing new materials with advanced properties that offer added value, such as improved thermal performance leading to energy savings.

Thanks to the progress made in the project, new opportunities have emerged for the participants to leverage the generated intellectual property and bring solutions to the market through projects with greater international presence. In this context, European programmes such as HORIZON, LIFE and the Innovation Fund present a perfect fit for the areas they aim to further develop.