Nicolas Cruaud, president and co-founder of Néolithe, explained to Techniques de l’Ingénieur the ambition of his company, namely to treat mixed non-recyclable waste industrially and ecologically. This technology was awarded at Global Industrie earlier this month.
Néolithe is a company created in January 2019 which is developing a new way of treating non-recyclable waste by offering an alternative to landfill and incineration: accelerated fossilization, which stores more carbon than it emits. . This patented process consists of transforming non-recyclable waste into Anthropocite, a new material in the form of mineral aggregates that can be used in the construction sector.
Nicolas Cruaud, president and co-founder of Néolithe, answered questions from Engineering Techniques, following Néolithe’s participation in the Global Industrie 2023 exhibition.
Engineering Techniques: Introduce us to Néolithe?
Nicholas Cruaud: We created Néolithe, with my two associates, Clément Bénassy and William Cruaud, three years ago. Today our industrial start-up has 168 employees. The bet that we have launched is to industrially and ecologically process mixed non-recyclable waste (such as plaster, plastics, wood, insulation, etc.). This is called sort refusal.
For all this waste, there were only two treatment options: landfill and incineration, intrinsically polluting methods that emit a lot of greenhouse gases. To meet this need more effectively, we have invented a third way of treating waste: accelerated fossilization, which sequesters CO2 instead of re-emitting it into the atmosphere. This process was born from the observation of my father William Cruaud, a stonemason in Anjou, who analyzed the tufa stone resulting from the sedimentation of waste from the Cretaceous into limestone.
Inspired by this natural process of sedimentation, we sought to reproduce this transformation and this is how we developed our accelerated fossilization process, which disrupts the way waste is processed by transforming it into stone.
Less emitter of greenhouse gases and ensuring the recovery of 100% of treated waste into mineral aggregates usable in the construction sector, this innovative process is positioned as an alternative to landfilling and incineration.
To give you a scale, if tomorrow we treated all the waste emitted in France each year by accelerated fossilization, we could reduce the French carbon footprint by 5 to 10%, all industries combined. This process is therefore in a position to change decarbonization very significantly.
How does your accelerated fossilization process work?
As a reminder, Néolithe is an industrial start-up specializing in the design and manufacture of fossilizers, industrial units for the treatment of non-recyclable waste (non-inert and non-hazardous) by accelerated fossilization.
Located directly on the platforms or sorting centers that receive and capture the waste, our fossilizers, which represent a floor area of approximately 500 m², are capable of processing 10,000 tonnes of waste per year. This is a solution that actively contributes to the reduction of greenhouse gas emissions, by storing more carbon than it emits. This via an entirely mechanical process, requiring no heating and emitting no discharge (odor, smoke, waste water, etc.). Today, we mainly treat ordinary industrial waste from the construction sector, called DIB. We plan within 2 years to also process household waste.
To go into more detail about this unique cold process, here are the main stages that make it up: The first stage, called grinding, consists of reducing the waste to the scale of a kind of very fine flour (grains between 0 and 500 microns). The second step, called mixing, consists in reacting this waste flour with binders which make it possible to mineralize the material. At the end of this reaction, we get a kind of mineral modeling clay. Regarding the binders that we use during this stage, these are formulations that we have developed and that we produce ourselves. The third step, called shaping, consists of pressing and modeling this mineral paste to obtain aggregates of the desired shape and density. The mineral aggregates resulting from the accelerated fossilization of waste are called “Anthropocite”. They can replace natural aggregates from quarries for use in non-structural concrete, without technical or environmental risk.
In addition, they act as carbon sinks by preventing the degradation of biogenic materials contained in the construction site DIB. Anthropocite has a negative carbon balance, ie for one tonne of waste treated, 338 kg of CO2 equivalent is stored within the aggregates. The manufacture and use of these aggregates therefore have a positive effect on the environment.
Finally, the CSTB issued a Technical Assessment of Products and Materials (ETPM) in order to prove the quality of non-structural concretes composed of 10% Anthropocite aggregates.
This approval is the basis proving the quality of Anthropocite and opening the way to new uses. Today, this material can be used by professionals in non-structural concrete, the first essential step before the production of structural concrete. Néolithe aims to extend the uses of this new material to other types of concrete and to increasingly high percentages, with a short-term objective of 30% substitution for traditional aggregates.
How is accelerated fossilization an innovative waste treatment technology?
Our process of accelerated fossilization of non-recyclable waste is very well received. It is an industrial response to today’s environmental issues, and therefore, it is fully in line with the national low-carbon strategy.
To recontextualize the management of non-recyclable waste, current treatment solutions such as landfilling or incineration are becoming more and more restrictive and costly. Landfilling is doomed to disappear, and incineration is clearly not a solution for the future due to its CO2 emissions. Industries are therefore increasingly looking for and turning to new processes to treat their waste.
Moreover, if the environmental issue via CO2 emissions was not a priority five or ten years ago, it has become essential and crucial today. Beyond industries, our low-carbon solution for Accelerated Fossilization of non-recyclable waste is of interest to all players in the sector: politics, civil society, etc.
Finally, the Anthropocite aggregate resulting from this process is the ideal material for all companies in the construction sector seeking to decarbonize their activities.
What were the challenges of your presence at Global Industrie this year?
We really believe we have the potential to create a positive impact on an industrial scale because our process treats non-recyclable waste and captures carbon.
Being present at the 5th edition of Global Industrie, the largest French showcase for industrial innovation, and winning a Global Award in the presence of Roland Lescure, Minister of Industry, and Nicolas Dufourcq, CEO of Bpifrance, helps us gain credibility and hopefully help us grow faster to deal with waste around the world.
What other trade shows do you usually attend?
We are participating in several fairs this year, such as Talent For The Planet, Le Jour E, Concrete Expo, SIM, Pollutec, SMCL… One of the main ones is Pollutec which will take place from October 10 to 13, 2023 at LYON Eurexpo. This is the unmissable event for those involved in waste, the environment and ecological transition. It is essential to promote the accelerated fossilization of non-recyclable waste.
What are your ambitions for the years to come?
Our main ambition is to participate actively and significantly in the reduction of greenhouse gases in order to limit the impacts linked to global warming as much as possible.
To achieve this ambitious and urgent goal, we are developing our business very quickly. We recruit an average of 2 employees per week in all sectors (administrative, engineering, laboratory, production, etc.) in order to ensure our development. Moreover, do not hesitate to contact us to participate in our adventure!
We are currently installing our first industrial Fossilizer and we plan to install seven in France by 2023. By 2026, we are aiming for a treatment capacity of 2.5 million tonnes of final waste, or savings of 1 million tonnes of CO2 per year.
Finally, we are also aiming for international deployment. We are now taking steps to install Fossilizers outside our borders: England, Nordic countries, Switzerland, and even Japan (country with very limited surface areas).
Interview by Pierre Thouverez