Experts transition from traditional to green business

Rotterdam, Dec. 5, 2023 - Paebbl, the fastest growing CO₂-utilization company of Europe, announces a major breakthrough. The company has managed to scale up its carbon storage technology from lab-phase to pilot production at lightning speed. In six months, Paebbl moved from laboratory-scale experimentation to fully operational batch production; a hundredfold increase in CO₂-processing capacity. This achievement is the result of a year of steady building by a high-quality team of engineers recruited primarily from the oil and gas industry.

Photo: Paebbl team in Rotterdam

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Substitute for polluting alternatives

Paebbl converts permanently captured carbon dioxide (CO₂) from gaseous form to a solid state carbonate-based composite (CO3), which can be used in a wide range of industrial applications. For every ton of CO₂ that Paebbl stores through their patented process, it generates up to 2.5 tons of silica-enriched magnesium carbonate, which in turn can serve as a substitute for the highly polluting alternatives. This gives the company's process a "carbon leverage effect"; each ton of stored CO₂ helps prevent further emissions in the built environment. The first application of Paebbl's silica-enriched mineral filler is in concrete, where the product can already replace a significant portion of OPC cement.

Talent develops environmentally friendly solution

This increase in scale means that Paebbl's environmentally friendly solutions will become available on the market at an accelerated pace. With this newly developed capability, Paebbl is now able to deliver its innovative products to the first early adopters in the Benelux and Nordic regions at short notice. The success of this rapid scale-up can be attributed to the exceptional talent that Paebbl has welcomed over the past year, coming from the oil and gas, mining and chemical industries; these experienced professionals bring a wealth of knowledge and skills, enabling Paebbl to achieve what many considered impossible.

Rotterdam - a thoughtful choice for Paebbl's R&D center

Part of Paebbl's strategy to achieve its rapid growth is to build teams where the best talent can be found. That is why the company chose to select Rotterdam as its R&D center. The city is known for its world-class talent in process engineering. As the world transitions to a low-carbon economy, talent from industries such as petrochemicals will become increasingly essential for the rapid scale-up and implementation of new industrial processes. Paebbl's engineers and operators come from companies such as ExxonMobil, LyondellBasell, TotalEnergies, Shin-Etsu and Union Platinum.

Practical problems

Arnold Choi, VP of Engineering at Paebbl, says, "More and more talent from traditional industries is making the move into sectors, which are focused on sustainability. The expertise that comes from these large-scale, capital-intensive, heavy industries can help small, innovative start-ups like Paebbl solve many practical problems that often lack expertise. At Paebbl, we share a common mission and strive to accelerate innovation and make a positive impact on the world. And we are growing fast! We expect to double the number of employees by the end of next year, which will naturally lead to even more positive momentum and results. Around the fourth quarter of 2024, we aim to increase production another 10x by launching our first continuous production unit. After that, we will continue our growth; in 2028 we plan to launch our first large-scale commercial demonstration plant, which will involve a significant increase in capacity. We are already in discussions with investors about this."

Start-up mentality

Dutch scientist Pol Knops, one of Paebbl's founders, on the lightning-fast scale-up: "By investing in experienced and knowledgeable engineers, project managers and operators with a strong track record in traditional industry, we can now combine this relevant experience with a start-up mentality, successfully accelerating our scale-up in record time. The plan is to develop our technology so rapidly that we meet the needs of both the market and the planet; there is an urgent need for alternatives to today's heavily emitting resources."

Green transition

Paebbl's founders plan to further expand the team in 2024 with passionate people, eager to use their expertise for a sustainable future. Marta Sjögren, Co-CEO of Paebbl, commented, "We are immensely proud of what our team has achieved in such a short time. Their experience from highly competitive industries has been invaluable to our rapid growth. We are actively seeking more talent, particularly from the oil and gas, mining and chemical sectors, to apply their skills to the green transition. Together, we aim to radically innovate the way we permanently store carbon dioxide for the benefit of our planet."