CEMEX and CEMEX Ventures, CEMEX's corporate venture capital unit, are investing in Waste to Energy Advanced Solutions (WtEnergy), a clean energy startup that has developed a novel process to transform solid waste into synthesis gas (Syngas) for industrial purposes.
WtEnergy converts biomass and non-recyclable waste into a lower-carbon energy solution, which can be used in the short-term as a fossil fuel alternative or be upgraded in the medium- and long-term to gases such as biomethane or pure hydrogen. CEMEX intends to incorporate this clean energy source into its clinker and cement manufacturing process, further reducing its operations’ carbon footprint. CEMEX aims to increase its fossil fuel substitution rate by 20 percentage points by 2030.
“This investment aligns with our strategy to find innovative clean fuel and energy sources for the cement industry,” said Gonzalo Galindo, head of CEMEX Ventures. “We have outlined an ambitious rollout strategy across multiple operations, starting with Spain and other European countries before expanding to other international markets.”
This investment is part of CEMEX’s Future in Actionprogram to build a more sustainable, circular future, with the primary objective of becoming a net-zero CO2 company. Since the launch of Future in Action, the company has achieved record-breaking CO2 reductions. Innovation is a key component of the program.
Alternative fuels are an important lever of CEMEX’s ambitious 2030 decarbonisation roadmap, which the Science-Based Targets initiative has validated for alignment under their new 1.5ºc scenario, the most ambitious pathway defined for the industry. One of the main levers for achieving its targets is using alternative fuels with high biomass content.
WtEnergy was born in 2017 thanks to the 20 years of experience of its founder, Andrés Ponce, in gasification, biofuels and clean energy generation (thermal and electric). In 2019, Antonio Crous joined the project as a co-founder to scale the business commercially and develop technology implementation within strategic industries and sectors. Both founders have extensive technical and business experience, accompanied by a large team of engineers and experts in gasification plants. WtEnergy has developed a unique cleantech technology with a wide know-how and many projects behind it, which is hard to find in the gasification and waste-to-energy market.
