Carbon4Minerals Industrial Pilot Presented at the Opening of VITO EARTH
In June 2026, VITO officially opened its new VITO EARTH research facility in Mol, Belgium. The state-of-the-art building brings together advanced laboratories and a pilot hall designed to help bridge the gap between laboratory research and industrial application.
For the Carbon4Minerals project, the opening represents a major project milestone. The facility includes an autoclave located in the CCUS corner, which is part of the project’s industrial pilot infrastructure and supports Carbon4Minerals’ work on CO₂ use, mineral carbonation and the valorisation of industrial residues.
This pilot infrastructure is directly connected to Carbon4Minerals ambition to utilise CO₂ from industrial flue gases for the production of low-carbon building material intermediates and construction end-products. It also supports the project’s wider objective of achieving additional CO₂-emission reductions by replacing CO₂-intensive Portland clinker and using secondary raw materials such as steel slags and construction waste.
The new facility provides an important environment for testing research results at larger scale and over longer periods, helping to move promising technologies closer to real industrial implementation. This is particularly relevant for energy-intensive sectors such as cement, steel and construction materials, where process-inherent emissions cannot be fully addressed by renewable energy alone.
With industrial pilots across the process value chain, from CO₂ capture to cement production and low-carbon construction products, Carbon4Minerals demonstrates how captured industrial CO₂ and secondary mineral streams can become valuable resources for a more sustainable, low-carbon and resource-efficient built environment.
Carbon4Minerals congratulates VITO on the opening of VITO EARTH and looks forward to further developments supported by this new industrial pilot infrastructure.
Take a look inside the new facility:
