Finland-based Carbonaide, a spin-out company from the VTT Technical Research Centre of Finland, announced on Tuesday that it has secured €1.8M in a Seed round of funding.
The round was led by Lakan Betoni and Vantaa Energy, along with public loans and in-kind contributions from Business Finland and other Finnish concrete companies.
Fund utilisation
Carbonaide states that it plans to use the funding to incorporate its CO2 curing technology into the automated production line of its precast concrete factory in Hollola, Finland.
With its factory-sized pilot unit and fully operational value chain, the Finnish company can mineralise up to five tons of CO2 per day and increase production by 100-fold of its carbon-negative concrete products.
Responsible for 8% of CO2 emissions
In general, the concrete industry is responsible for 8 per cent of global CO2 emissions, with most of the emissions originating from ordinary Portland cement manufacturing, which generates 800-900 kilograms of CO2 emissions per metric ton of cement.
With legislation increasingly tightening around construction material emissions, industrially feasible technologies to reduce the CO2 emissions of concrete are severely needed.
As a significant contributor to carbon dioxide emissions, concrete manufacturers are actively seeking solutions to reduce their environmental impact.
VTT’s researchers have developed a carbon-negative concrete production process, which could pave the way for the creation of eco-friendly concrete products.
Carbonaide: Progress of constant development
Talking about the journey of establishing Carbonaide to Silicon Canals, Tapio Vehmas, CEO of Carbonaide, says, “Carbonaide started in VTT’s project, where we studied the utilisation of CO2. We got excited about the topic and started to dig deeper. Eventually, we ended up in the VTT’s business incubator, where the whole Carbonaide concept was developed.”
“There is no single event where Carbonaide was invented, but it is more like a progress of constant development. Along the way, we identified and solved problems, and the results became Carbonaide technology. Our technology started gaining a lot of attention and many potential customer contacts, so it became very natural to find Carbonaide as a company,” says Vehmas.
Utilises Carbonation method
Carbonaide’s solution is based on an effective carbonation method, which binds carbon dioxide into precast concrete using an automated system at atmospheric pressure.
This technology has the potential to significantly reduce carbon emissions associated with traditional Portland cement concrete by minimising cement content and mineralising CO2 into the concrete.
“Our aim is that carbon-negative concrete is cheaper to manufacture than traditional concrete. That is because it utilises slags from the industry,” Vehmas tells Silicon Canals.
By incorporating industrial side streams such as industry slags, green liquor dregs, and bio-ash into the binding process in place of ordinary cement, the outcome is concrete with a carbon footprint that is negative.
In the process, CO2 is permanently stored and removed from the carbon cycle.
Check out how it is made:
Explaining the difference between traditional concrete and carbon-negative concrete in terms of properties and performance, Vehmas says, “There is surprisingly little difference, considering that traditional concrete is a huge emissions source and ours is carbon negative. The main difference is that our concrete does not have solid portlandite, and there are various carbonates. Properties and performance are more or less the same – otherwise, it would not be called concrete.”
The Finnish company aims to open ten operational units in the Nordics by 2026 and bind approximately 500 megatons of carbon dioxide annually by 2050 – corresponding to 10–20 per cent of the concrete market.
The Investors
“As new innovations take ground, the demand for low-carbon products will likely increase. New technologies, such as Carbonaide, provide the means for the industrial-scale production of affordable low-carbon products. We’re happy to support Carbonaide scale up its production and realise the world’s first CO2 curing integration to a fully automated precast concrete production line,” says Juho Hiltunen, CEO of Lakan Betoni Oy.
“ Carbonaide technology is an excellent example of how to both reduce and utilise existing CO2 in new products and permanently store carbon from the cycle,” says Matti Wallin, Business Director from Vantaa Energy Ltd, one of Carbonaide’s strategic investors.
