The world's first multipurpose carbon refinery will open at Kooragang Island on Wednesday, marking a major milestone in global industrial decarbonisation.
MCi Carbon's Myrtle facility transforms carbon dioxide and low-value mineral feedstocks into carbon-embodied materials used in everyday products.
These include concrete, plasterboard, paint, paper, glass and adhesives - permanently locking carbon into the raw materials the global economy already relies on.
The technology has the potential to reduce net emissions in hard-to-abate industries by up to 90 per cent.
Unlike conventional decarbonisation approaches, MCi Carbon's technology generates saleable products in the process, reframing industrial decarbonisation as an investment with a return, rather than a cost.
The market for carbon-embedded construction materials is projected to reach $US1 trillion per year by 2050.
"Our invitation to the leaders of hard-to-abate industry is simple - send us your carbon dioxide profile and your feedstocks," MCi Carbon founder Marcus Dawe said.
"We'll run a rapid validation and hand back the technical, product and commercial data you need to make profitable decarbonisation your next capital decision, not your next compliance problem."
Orica, MCi Carbon's founding investor and industrial partner, hosts Myrtle at its Kooragang Island ammonia plant, supplying the facility's carbon dioxide and providing a working example of the on-site integration model in action.
The facility can transform up to 2500 tonnes of carbon dioxide per year into up to 10,000 tonnes of saleable material, producing several tonnes of product for every tonne of carbon dioxide processed.
Climate Change and Energy Minister Chris Bowen, who will open Myrtle on Wednesday, said the project showed how regions like the Hunter could be at the centre of Australia's clean industrial future.
"We're backing Australian innovation to cut emissions and create the next generation of clean industries," he said.
"This demonstration plant is a glimpse of what could become a major new industry for places like Newcastle and the Hunter.
"Taking carbon dioxide from industrial production and turning it into materials for homes, buildings and manufacturing is exactly the kind of practical, Australian-made technology we should be backing.
This is about cutting emissions, creating new products, and building new clean industries, literally brick by brick."
Where other decarbonisation technologies are built for a single input and output, Myrtle accepts diverse carbon dioxide streams and reactive mineral inputs to produce multiple product lines.
That flexibility means the platform can be configured for two distinct deployment models: installed directly on-site at an industrial facility or operated hub-and-spoke from a central facility serving multiple emitters across a region.
Both models have export potential - MCi's technology and the materials it produces can be deployed wherever hard-to-abate industry operates, making it a globally transferable decarbonisation platform.
MCi Carbon has received more than $40 million in federal government funding across federal and NSW programs.
The company has also raised more than $40 million from global private investors, including founding investor Orica, cornerstone investor ITOCHU Corporation, Mizuho Bank, Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Bank and Mitsubishi UBE Cement Corporation from Japan, and RHI Magnesita, MCi Carbon's first global commercial customer.
