Co-reactive's continuous CO2-to-concrete demo plant goes live in Erkrath
Co-reactive, a German startup turning industrial mineral waste into building materials, has switched on its demonstration plant in Erkrath. The facility runs a continuous process that combines CO₂ with mineral by-products to make carbon-negative construction materials, marking the company’s jump from bench chemistry to operating hardware. Why this matters Concrete and cement account for roughly 8% of global CO₂ emissions, and almost every mineralization startup claims it can fix part of that. Very few have moved past the lab. A working demo plant with a continuous process, not a batch reactor, is the step where most carbon mineralization companies stall. It is the difference between a chemistry result and a product you can sell. Mineralization also has a structural advantage over many other CDR pathways: the CO₂ is locked into a stable carbonate inside a material people already buy in enormous volumes. Verification is comparatively straightforward, and the product replaces a high-emission incumbent rather than requiring a new market. ...