CUT CO2 System for CO2-Enhanced SCMs

Carbon Upcycling Technologies is headquartered in Calgary, Alberta, Canada, with offices in Ithaca, New York and London. It converts locally sourced industrial byproducts and flue-gas CO2 into supplementary cementitious materials (SCMs), aiming to cut clinker use and reduce 4 million tonnes of CO2 by 2030. Its investors include major cement producers.

The CUT CO2 System uses a proprietary mechanically assisted chemical exfoliation process that increases feedstock surface area in the presence of flue gas, mineralising CO2 and producing an enhanced SCM. Feedstocks include steel slags, low-kaolin clays and shale activated at ambient temperature, and legacy Class C and F coal ash and bottom ash. The all-electric, ambient-temperature system integrates as a turnkey unit at existing cement plants. Customers are cement and concrete producers and owners of industrial byproduct stockpiles.

• Mechanochemical exfoliation: proprietary process that raises feedstock surface area in flue gas.
• CO2 mineralisation: kiln flue-gas CO2 is bound into the SCM, creating carbon attributes.
• Flexible feedstocks: BOF, EAF and blast furnace slags, low-kaolin clay, shale and legacy coal ash.
• Ambient, all-electric operation: continuous open system with low energy demand and no fossil fuel.
• Grid-responsive: can be switched on and off quickly for peak and off-peak power.
• Turnkey integration: installed at existing cement plants, starting with Ash Grove Mississauga at up to 30,000 tonnes a year.

Cement plants in Vietnam can install the system to mineralise kiln CO2 into locally sourced SCMs and lower clinker ratios. Integrated steel producers can convert steel slag into a saleable cement additive. Thermal power plants can turn legacy ash ponds into SCM feedstock instead of landfill.

Enhanced SCMs can reduce clinker content by up to 50% and carbon emissions by up to 60%. They offer up to 40% improvement in early strength compared with conventional cement. Materials are produced at cost parity with or below regional cement prices. Low-grade waste such as steel slag and pond ash is diverted from stockpiles, with more than 4,000 tonnes already deployed in Canada.

Cement makers worldwide are seeking SCMs as traditional fly ash and slag supplies tighten, while carbon capture and utilisation can generate credits. Vietnam has large stockpiles of thermal power ash and steel slag from integrated steel plants, plus a new domestic carbon market, which favours technologies that turn these residues into cement substitutes.

Headquartered in Calgary, Canada, with offices in Ithaca, New York and London, UK. Backed by a syndicate of strategic investors including three of the largest cement producers in the global north. Secured up to USD 10 million from ATEL Ventures in April 2026 and joined the Holcim MAQER Ventures Accelerator in March 2026.