CORAL GABLES, FL -- Cosentino, a global leader in producing sustainable surfaces for architecture and design, has announced plans to develop a Circular Technology Quarry "CT Quarry," a first-of-its-kind industrial-scale plant that will produce innovative recycled raw materials for Europe's construction, glass and ceramic sectors. Cosentino was awarded an investment of nearly $95 million from the European Commission Innovation Fund, of which the “CT Quarry” was the only Spanish medium-scale project out of the 85 net-zero projects selected for the grants.

The Innovation Fund is one of the world’s largest financing programs for the implementation of innovative net-zero and low-carbon emissions technologies, and one of the key tools of the European Green Deal Plan. “We are proud to have this important project selected by the Innovation Fund, which we believe will be the biggest turning point in the sector globally for more than a decade,” said Valentin Tijeras, vice president of global product, R&D and quality at Cosentino.

With the goal to divert waste away from landfills, the “CT Quarry” factory will process more than 100,000 tons of industrial sludge from Cosentino’s manufacturing process yearly. The industrial waste, combined with other materials, will produce more than 247,000 tons/year of raw materials to be utilized for specifically defined industrial applications in Europe. Moreover, the project integrates the use of renewable fuels and electric energy, while recovering process heat, which is expected to achieve an absolute GHG emissions reduction of more than one million tons of carbon dioxide over 10 years.