Carbon8 and Return Carbon Establish Strategic Partnership
Carbon8 and Return Carbon Establish Strategic Partnership to Roll-out Carbon8’s CCUS Technology in Belgium and The Netherlands
Carbon8, the UK cleantech company that is specializing in carbon capture, utilisation and storage (CCUS) for heavy industry, has signed a collaboration agreement with Return Carbon (part of the Return Group), a Dutch investment platform following an Invest-and-Build approach focused on companies that accelerate the Energy Transition and the Circular Economy.
Return Carbon will work with Carbon8 to build its presence in the Belgian and Dutch markets. The two companies will target four key industrial sectors: Energy from Waste (EFW), Biomass power generation, Paper & Pulp and Steel production. These hard-to-abate industries, along with cement, are responsible for over 20% of global greenhouse emissions.
Carbon8’s CO₂ntainer deployed at the Vicat Group’s cement plant in Montalieu, France.
Carbon8’s CO₂ntainer – its ground-breaking modular CCUS solution that can be deployed directly on site – can help these sectors decarbonize and shift to a more circular operation. The company’s patented Accelerated Carbonation Technology (ACT) combines their industrial residues (such as waste ash in an EFW plant or a biomass-fuelled power station) with captured CO₂ emissions to produce high-value aggregates and agricultural fertilisers. These new products can be reused, closing the loop of a circular value chain. The partnership will also focus on bringing these carbon negative products to market.
The partnership agreement with Return Carbon follows the €5.79m investment in Carbon8 made by Vicat, the international cement group, EDF Group and its corporate venture capital arm, EDF Pulse Ventures. The investment, announced in June 2022, is accelerating the growth of Carbon8 in the UK, continental Europe and around the world.
Return Carbon will be Carbon8’s strategic business partner in Belgium and The Netherlands. Return Carbon will identify and secure projects in the two countries where Carbon8’s carbon capture and use technology is suitable for deployment. Return Carbon will also work with Carbon8 to secure the necessary consents and certifications, as well as private and public sector financing, for a pipeline of new projects.
Maarten van Roon, CCO of Carbon8 said: “We are excited about our partnership with Return Carbon. In our search for a regional business partner, their track record in supporting the commercial growth of technology companies by enabling industry players to adopt new solutions, stood out. Return Carbon is pushing the energy transition and we are one of the solutions that can help deliver this.”
Since its establishment over a decade ago, Return Group, previously known as Stecc Group, has been involved in building and growing more than 25 companies, including the energy tech companies Sunrock (solar energy) and SemperPower (battery storage).
Martijn Verwoerd, Co-founder and Director of Return Carbon said: “Having seen Carbon8’s work in the cement industry and its project with AVR’s Energy from Waste facility in Duiven, we were keen to work with them. Carbon8’s carbon capture and use technology has the potential to be a real game-changer for industrial companies, challenged to find ways to achieve their environmental goals. It offers permanent CO₂ capture and storage which enables heavy industry to better manage their residues, simultaneously addressing their goals of zero landfill and Net Zero emissions. We will be utilising all of our experience and knowledge of the Belgian and Dutch markets to help finance and build Carbon8’s order book.”
Carbon8’s partnership agreement with FLSmidth, announced in June 2021, is focused entirely towards carbon capture in the global cement industry, so is unaffected by today’s announcement.
Media & General Enquiries Contacts
Carbon8 (www.carbon8.co.uk)
Selin Murat, Head of Commercial Partnerships: +44 (0)7511 17817 / selin.murat@carbon8.co.uk
Selina Good, Marketing Manager: +44 (0)7872 841064 / selina.good@carbon8.co.uk
Paul Taylor, Taylor Keogh Communications: +44 (0)7966 782611 / paul@taylorkeogh.com
Return and Return Carbon (www.returncarbon.nl / Return (www.return.energy)
Martijn Verwoerd, Co-founder and Director: +31 (0)20 760 37 77
Notes to Editors
About Carbon8 and ACT
ACT relies on a process of carbonation, which occurs naturally in atmospheric conditions. If left in the open, compounds such as calcium or magnesium oxides, hydroxides, or silicates will react with the carbon dioxide. However, this process is extremely slow - taking place over millennia. Carbon8’s technology accelerates this process in a controlled way and in doing so, has created one of the worlds few economically-viable forms of carbonation and permanent carbon capture, utilisation and storage (CCU). The ACT process mineralises and stabilises these industrial by-products or residues to produce a granular solid. Carbon8’s expertise around the carbonation process means that it is able to control the physical characteristics of the end-product. The end-product has various valuable applications, such as aggregates for construction, or agricultural fertiliser. For maximum efficacy, the most reactive residues need to be high in calcium or magnesium oxide, hydroxide, or silicates. Carbon8’s CO₂ntainer system (a modular, containerised solution – carbon capture in a box) is similar in size to a shipping container so can be easily transported by HGV to site.
About Return and Return Carbon
Return is an energy transition Invest-and-Build platform that invests in independent companies and initiatives that each focus on different parts of the energy transition. Return’s main focus is on developing Carbon projects and green MegaWatts to accelerate the transition to a Net-Zero economy. Return is currently active in CCUS, Renewable Energy, Energy Storage, and EV-Charging. As a new type of investor, Return is hands-on, entrepreneurial, patient and incessantly believing that entrepreneurial teams should stay ambitious and pioneering.
As a project development accelerator, promoter of technologies, investor, and integrator of commercial activities, Return Carbon actively engages in venture building, project investing and commercial integration. Return Carbon is positioning itself as a key player in the CO₂ markets by connecting emitters with full-scale solutions working with partners in the value chain and entrepreneurial teams that offer new technologies.
