MCi Carbon have been announced as a winner by The Banksia Foundation at the 34th National Banksia Sustainability Awards, recognising the chemical engineering breakthroughs achieved at their Pilot Plant Facility in Newcastle to decarbonise global industries. The National Banksia Sustainability Awards seek out and recognises innovation and leadership through the lens of the United Nation’s Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).
MCi Carbon captures emissions from global industries, like steel, cement, fertilisers, and mining, unlocking the value of carbon by creating valuable inputs into building materials and other products, diverting emissions that would otherwise go into the atmosphere. The chemical process, called mineral carbonation, creates a range of products, including calcium and magnesium carbonates and amorphous silica, by reacting CO2 with minerals in by-products of industrial processes, such as steel slag and mine tailings.
At a ceremony held at in Melbourne on March 23, MCi Carbon were presented with the ‘Circular Transition Award’, being recognised alongside other category winners Woolworths Group, Ventia, Fire Rescue Victoria, and the Reef and Rainforest Research Centre.
“A big thank you to the Banksia Foundation for this recognition of MCi Carbon as a national leader in sustainable and circular thinking. This award gives further credence to MCi Carbon’s technology solutions and business models. The transition will require 1000 companies like ours, and every lever needs to be pulled to decarbonise supply chains and reduce emissions now.”
Marcus Dawe - MCi Carbon co-founder and CEO
The company has grown exponentially in recent years, following the award of a $14.6m Australian Federal government grant in 2021 to build a world-first demonstration plant at Orica's Kooragang Island manufacturing site in Newcastle, using mineral carbonation to prevent emissions from entering the atmosphere. In February 2023, MCi announced a multi-million dollar investment from RHI Magnesita (LON:RHIM), the world’s leader in refractories products, and signed up the Austrian company as its first global commercial customer.
The National Banksia Sustainability Awards seek out and recognises innovation and leadership through the lens of the United Nation’s Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). Established 34 years ago, the Banksia National Sustainability Awards recognise individuals, communities, businesses and government for their innovation and excellence in environmental and social stewardship.
Banksia Foundation CEO Graz van Egmond said the winners were drawn from a record number of entries, demonstrating optimism and hope for a brighter future despite fears for the economy in the short term.
“These are Australia’s brightest leaders, changemakers and innovators who are making a positive impact on our world"
Graz van Egmond - Banksia Foundation CEO
MCi Carbon’s semi-continuous research Pilot Plant is one of the first-of-its-kind in the world and is where the team conducts intensive industrial programs to refine the patented mineral carbonation process, deliver customer projects, and generate low-carbon materials for product testing. Last year, MCi was awarded the prestigious NSW Clean Technology Award, presented by the Banksia Foundation.
Located at the University of Newcastle’s NIER facility, the plant reacts industrial emissions with feedstocks, such as low-grade minerals, creating both carbonates and silica by-products for use in building materials, such as concretes and plasterboards, demonstrating the potential to create value from CO2.
Recently featured in Bloomberg, Forbes, the Australian Financial Review and on ABC Radio National, MCi CEO Marcus Dawe and COO Sophia Hamblin Wang were named in the Top 100 Australian Green Power Players (2022/2023), published in The Australian. MCi Carbon was awarded the 2022 NSW Clean Technology Award, presented at the Banksia Foundation Sustainability Awards.
For more information
Todd McHenry, Head of Communications | MCi Carbon
Email: comms@mineralcarbonation.com
Phone: +61 422 488 512
About MCi Carbon
MCi Carbon (MCi) is a world-leading Australian based clean technology company transforming carbon dioxide into building products and materials for the circular carbon economy. The company is based in Canberra with a technical headquarters in Newcastle and a global reference pilot plant at the Newcastle Institute for Energy and Resources (NIER). Founded in 2013, the company has developed a low-cost, low-pressure, low-energy chemical engineering process to transform CO2 emissions from industrial sources into solid materials which can be used to create a range of products.
MCi has received global recognition for its R&D. In 2021, MCi won first prize at the Clean Energy Start-up Pitch Battle at COP26 in Glasgow. Other international accolades include the 2018 Resource Innovator of the Year award at the New Materials Summit in Berlin and being featured at the World Economic Forum Pioneers of Change Summit, building momentum as a global brand and a leader in carbon capture and utilisation (CCU).