RHI Magnesita and Australian cleantech MCi Carbon enter long-term strategic cooperation to decarbonise refractories
RHI Magnesita has signed a long-term strategic cooperation agreement with the Australian cleantech MCi Carbon. The company is investing several millions into research and development for innovative technologies abating carbon emissions to achieve its goal of becoming a CO2 neutral business.
RHI Magnesita is a global leading manufacturer of refractory materials, which are used in all high-temperature industrial processes, and has a responsibility to drive sustainability. Striving to reduce CO2 emissions is therefore one of the company’s top priorities. A significant share of the company’s carbon emissions is released during mineral processing. Decarbonising the company therefore requires unprecedented innovation and new technologies.
MCi’s technology presents a safe and profitable means of storing CO2 permanently. The chemical process, called mineral carbonation, creates a range of low-carbon embodied materials, including calcium and magnesium carbonate by carbonating minerals in by-products of industrial processes. For this innovative climate solution, MCi has been awarded #1 Global Cleantech Pitch at COP26 in Glasgow.
RHI Magnesita is convinced of the potential of mineralisation to achieve a significant CO2 reduction within its Scope1 emissions. To date, both companies have worked together on CO2 mitigation studies, mineral carbonisation feedstock assessments and techno-economic analyses at RHI Magnesita’s worldwide sites. The investment now results from the cleantech’s high industrial research maturity as well as its technology’s exceptional suitability for use in the refractories industry and within the group itself.
In a next step, the companies’ joint efforts will focus on industrial scale-up, expected to kick-off in 2024 with the setup of a demonstration plant by MCi in Newcastle, Australia, supported by the Australian government and in alignment with the goals of Mission Innovation’s Net Zero Industries initiative, co-led by Austria and Australia.
