This week, Ash Grove (CRH Group) broke ground on its Carbon 1 project with Carbon Upcycling, at the Mississauga cement plant in Ontario, Canada. This initiative will combine carbon capture and utilisation (CCU) and cement production with supplementary cementitious materials (SCMs) to decarbonise and reuse CO2.

Carbon Upcycling Technologies is implementing its CUT patented technology to capture the CO2 at the 2.21Mta cement plant and transform it into SCMs. When fully operational in 2026, the CCU facility will be capable of manufacturing 30,000tpa of SCMs. 

Supporting decarbonisation through investment
Finance for the project began in December 2022 when Carbon Upcycling Technology agreed an initial investment to pilot the supply, installation and operation of the CUU facility at the Mississauga plant. In June 2025 CRH Ventures participated in the latest investment round for CUT with an investment of US$18m, led by impact platform Builders Vision. Federal funding has also awarded up to US$10m through three key Canadian funded innovation and environmental projects.

Innovative technology
High-quality cementitious material from steel slag, sourced from a nearby manufacturing facility, will provide the raw materials to reduce the clinker content of the cement produced. Clinker and ground granulated blastfurnace slag (GGBS) will first be produced, before CUT technology will extract CO2 from kiln exhaust gases to create CO2 enhanced SCM. This will then be combined with the clinker and GGBS to produce low-carbon cement. 

Building partnerships
“This groundbreaking project is a powerful example of what happens when innovators, industry leaders, and governments come together with a shared vision,” said Eduardo Gomez, head of CRH Ventures. “We’re proud to support Carbon Upcycling in bringing scalable, carbon-smart cement solutions to market and to accelerate innovation that drives our industry forward.”

“This project is the result of the collective efforts of our team, our partners, and the community who share our vision for a resilient, clean tomorrow,” said Apoorv Sinha, CEO of Carbon Upcycling. “With this project we’re setting the precedent for a new way forward. One that aligns community, industry and climate, so that we can build what matters most using cleaner, Canadian-made materials.” 

“What we’re launching is more than a new system – it’s a new way forward,” added Serge Schmidt, president of Ash Grove. “This project signals a breakthrough in how we decarbonise one of the world’s most essential industries. We’re proud to build it in Canada, using homegrown talent, partnerships, and purpose-driven innovation.”

This will be a flagship carbon capture project for CRH, creating permanent, skilled jobs in the Ontario region.

Spreading the risk of decarbonising 
CRH Ventures has invested in both point source carbon capture technologies and direct air capture to reduce CO2 emissions at its cement plants. Cool Planet Technologies is another decarbonising partner that CRH has invested in, which is based in the UK and is using cutting-edge membrane technology to capture CO2 from flue-gases.

In Europe CRH is pioneering its carbon capture drive at the Eqiom Lumbres plant in France. This K6 project has been awarded EUR150m of EU funding and will use oxyfuel-ready kiln supported by Air Liquide’s Cryocap Oxy technology to capture and liquefy the CO2 emissions produced during cement manufacture. This project will contribute to CCS close to the port of Dunkirk, as part of the Dunkirk D’Artagnan project of Common Interest (PCI).

CRH Ventures is committed to examining the best technologies for its cement portfolio, but at this stage is not concentrating on one technology to form the main part of its decarbonisation programme.