The design for the new plant was drawn up by KREAN at the request of Petronor’s Engineering Department, and Biscay Eco Aggregates has contracted KREAN to provide project management. The works took 16 months to complete, finishing in May 2026.
Biscay Eco Aggregates (a company formed by Petronor’s subsidiary, Alba Emission Free Energy S.A., and its technology partner O.C.O Technology) has completed the construction of an innovative mineralisation plant in the Port of Bilbao. The new facility, which will be a first of its kind in mainland Europe, will be dedicated to the production of carbon-negative eco-aggregates using so-called Accelerated Carbonation Technology (ACT), based on municipal solid waste. This technology repurposes waste from incineration plants by converting it into carbonate minerals through CO₂ fixation.
The plant will be able to utilise CO₂ captured from the Petronor refinery. Using the technology developed by O.C.O., the CO₂ will react with waste that, until now, ended up in landfills, transforming it into synthetic aggregates. These aggregates will serve as raw material in the construction sector, thereby promoting the circular economy and reducing the industry’s carbon footprint. Annual production is estimated at 125 kT/year, based on a fly ash volume of around 50 kT/year.
The investment allocated to this project amounts to €20 million and is in line with Petronor’s commitment to decarbonisation. The project is co-financed by the European Union and the Basque Government, through the Innovation Fund and Indartu programmes.
The plant is situated on a 10,900 m² site, with just over 2,600 m² of covered area and the remainder as paved area. The buildings comprising the site are:
- Process building
- Sand curing and storage building
- Finished product silos
- Office building
- A small prefabricated building to house the Substation from which the plant is supplied with electricity.
In addition, the plant will have an outdoor storage and maintenance area where a small diesel storage facility will be located.
