The Clean Growth Fund and AP Ventures, two UK venture capital investors backing the transition, have announced a new investment in a Welsh firm turning demolition waste into low-carbon cement.
Reclinker, a company specialising in the repurposing of cement from demolition waste using Cambridge-born technology, has secured £10m of series A funding to scale up its new technology.
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The round was also backed by the Development Bank of Wales, Carbon Zero Capital, Kibo Invest and Cambridge Enterprise.
The additional capital will help the firm grow its production facilities in Cardiff and hire additional workers.
Cement has traditionally been a hard-to-abate sector. While it continues to play a vital role as binding agent for crucial infrastructure and housing developments, traditional cement manufacturing processes,involve heating limestone in a kiln and decomposing it into lime releasing trapped carbon. This process is extremely emissions-intensive. Cement manufacturing continues to account for some 6-8% of global carbon emissions, significantly more than the global aviation industry.
Reclinker aims to tackle this challenge using a new methodology developed by Cambridge University, which recovers cement paste from construction demolition, turning it back into clinker inside the electric arc furnaces (EAFs) already used to recycle steel – producing new cement and recycled steel simultaneously.
The firm says that the process requires no kiln, no quarried limestone and no fossil-fuel-driven heat, leading to a 50% reduction in emissions.
The technology has been tested in multiple trials at 7 Steel UK's Cardiff plant, with first commercial sales already secured.
