MCi’s new Newcastle office supports CO2 capture

Staff and stakeholders in carbon capture and reuse technology company Mineral Carbonation International (MCi) have gathered in Newcastle, NSW to mark the opening of the company’s new local industrial headquarters office.

The Canberra-based company is constructing a mobile demonstration plant on Kooragang Island that captures and uses CO2 to produce manufacturing and construction materials, such as concrete, plasterboard and fire-retardant materials.

MCi was the recipient of up to $14.6 million in federal government funding towards the construction of a demonstration plant – one of six companies that are sharing the $50 million Carbon Capture, Use and Storage (CCUS) Development Fund.

Following this last year MCi was awarded #1 Global Cleantech at COP26 in Glasgow.

MCi COO Sophia Hamblin Wang said: “Vast momentum of interest and growth is now occurring in Newcastle and the Hunter region where these technologies need to be validated.

“MCi offers a unique opportunity to assist in the decarbonisation of industry, and since the news in Glasgow we have continued to attract more local talent.”

The company has now employed 20 in the Hunter region of NSW, with staff from Canberra and Newcastle coming together for the first time at last week’s gathering.

MCi’s technologies captures emissions from hard-to-abate industries, like steel, cement, fertilisers and mining, unlocking the value of carbon by creating valuable products and materials for re-use in a circular carbon economy.

The chemical process, called ‘mineral carbonation’, creates a range of low carbon embodied materials, including calcium carbonate, by carbonating minerals in slag and other by-products of the steelmaking process (mainly steelmaking slag), coal ash produced by thermal power plants, and other industrial waste materials containing magnesium or calcium.

Commissioned in 2016, the company’s existing pilot plant is located at the Newcastle Institute for Energy and Resources (NIER).

Picture: MCi

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