CO₂ capture and storage on the same site: now possible thanks to a collaboration between neustark and the Bereuter Group

• Swiss climate-tech pioneer neustark has joined forces with the Bereuter Group to open a plant for the storage of CO₂ in mineral waste streams.
• The plant in Volketswil (Zurich) can permanently store 900 tonnes of biogenic CO₂ per year in demolished concrete, thus creating significant negative emissions.
• The CO₂ will be channeled directly from the Volketswil biogas plant (which is right next to the Bereuter Group’s site) to the storage facility via a short gas pipeline.

The Swiss company neustark, a pioneer in CO₂ storage in mineral waste streams, and the Bereuter Group, a leading start-finish provider of construction services, are jointly commissioning a CO₂ storage facility at the Volketswil site in Zurich. This facility will have a storage capacity of 900 tonnes of CO₂ per year.

This is how it works: CO₂ from biogas plants is captured and transported to concrete-recycling plants where neustark’s technology has been seamlessly integrated into existing processes. The carbon is then injected into the demolished concrete granulate in an additional stage to the existing recycling process. This triggers accelerated mineralization and permanently binds the CO₂ into the pores and surface of the granulate. As the CO₂ is biogenic in origin and remains bound for hundreds of thousands of years, this process generates negative emissions which is essential for reaching our climate targets.

A unique on-site set-up

In the case of the collaboration between neustark AG and the Bereuter Group, the CO₂ comes from the biogas plant in Volketswil, which is adjacent to the Bereuter Group's site. The biogas plant operated by the energy company Axpo produces CO₂ during the fermentation of organic waste, which is usually released back into the atmosphere in a climate-neutral way. Energie360° AG handles the biogas treatment and is responsible for capturing the CO₂. This carbon is then sent directly to the storage facility on the Bereuter site via a 50-meter-long gas pipeline. "This set-up is unique. We normally liquefy the CO₂, transport it several kilometers and return it to a gaseous state at the storage facility. At Volketswil, however, we can use the CO₂ straight from the site. The usual steps in the process are no longer necessary and the transport distance is kept to a minimum. I am very excited about this cooperation and the commissioning of the facility", said Valentin Gutknecht, co-founder and co-CEO of neustark.

For the Bereuter Group, investing in the facility is part of its strategy for greater sustainability and closed cycles for construction industry materials. “We have been focusing on the concept of the circular economy since the 1980s. The processing and re-use of demolition materials is part of our DNA. This is how we are actively helping to conserve resources. With neustark's technology we can also turn this demolition material into a carbon sink”, said Adrian Thomann, CEO of the Bereuter Group. At the Volketswil site, around 75,000 tonnes of recycled materials per year will now be treated with CO₂. This means that for every tonne of material, an average 12kg of carbon will be taken permanently out of the atmosphere. The CO₂-enriched material can also be used as a filler layer in road construction or to produce recycled concrete. The Bereuter Group’s CO₂-enriched products will be marketed under the name BERECO₂.

Neustark is forging ahead

The commissioning of the CO₂ storage facility in Volketswil is part of neustark’s extensive program of expansion. Twenty CO₂ capture and storage facilities are already operating in Switzerland, along with fourteen more in neighboring Germany, France and Liechtenstein. Thirty more projects are currently being built or are at the planning stage across Europe.

About neustark

Limiting global warming to 1.5°C implies reaching net zero CO₂ emissions in 2050, according to the IPCC. Next to substantially reducing emissions, this target will only be possible by globally deploying carbon removal (CDR) solutions at the scale of billions of tonnes of CO₂.

Neustark is a leading provider in this rapidly growing field, having developed a solution to durably and locally remove CO₂ via surface mineralization. We turn the world’s largest waste stream, demolition concrete, and other mineral waste into a carbon sink.

Our first solutions have been deployed in Europe, already capturing and storing thousands of tonnes of CO₂ every year. Now, we are scaling up our operations and carbon removal impact globally.

Founded in 2019, neustark AG is based in Berne, Switzerland, comprising a team of 80 people (as of Q125). Together, we enable permanent CO₂ removal for a bright future of all generations on our planet.

About the Bereuter Group

The Bereuter Group is a construction company which has been firmly established in the Zürcher Oberland for over 350 years. It has around 230 employees and an annual turnover of approximately 75 million Swiss francs. With divisions in structural engineering, (specialist) civil engineering, renovation, transport and building materials, it covers practically the entire building spectrum from a sole provider, and thus offers its clients a wide variety of services and products. www.bereuter-gruppe.ch