Calm, hazy aerial view of a Nordic/European industrial skyline at dawn — steel-production infrastructure and mineral-processing atmosphere. Not footage of an operating LithoBind facility.

Turning steel slag and CO₂ into valuable materials

We are developing a process that turns steelmaking slag and CO₂ into precipitated calcium carbonate (PCC) and a low-carbon cementitious binder.

Interested in hearing more?

Reach out to our team

LithoBind is an Aalto University Research to Business project funded by Business Finland

Solution

Turning steelmaking side streams into valuable industrial materials

LithoBind is an integrated process that turns steelmaking slag into two products. Calcium from the slag reacts with CO₂ to form PCC, and the remaining mineral stream (PCC residue) becomes a cementitious binder.

01 / 03

Steel production leaves large volumes of slag

Steelmaking slag is a large mineral side stream, and much of it has few high-value uses today. The same site also produces CO₂, which our process uses as an input.

INPUT

Steelmaking raw materials

OUTPUT

Steel, CO₂, and slag

01 / 03

Steel production leaves large volumes of slag

Steelmaking slag is a large mineral side stream, and much of it has few high-value uses today. The same site also produces CO₂, which our process uses as an input.

STEEL PLANT

STEEL

CO₂

SLAG

PCC

CEMENTITIOUS
BINDER

PCC
PRODUCER

CEMENT
PRODUCER

CONCRETE
PRODUCER

For partners

We're looking for industry partners for our first demo plant

We are bringing together a group of industry partners for our first LithoBind demo plant. The demo plant is intended to validate the technology and business case, enabling us to move toward industrial scale and beyond.

We're looking to collaborate with:

Partner benefits

Lower slag handling and storage costs

We're looking to collaborate on:

Slag feedstock validation

Site integration requirements

Potential demo plant site hosting

Interested in hearing more?

Reach out to our team

Partner benefits

Lower slag handling and storage costs

We're looking to collaborate on:

Slag feedstock validation

Site integration requirements

Potential demo plant site hosting

Interested in hearing more?

Reach out to our team

Partner benefits

Local PCC made from an industrial side stream, at a competitive production cost

We're looking to collaborate on:

Application specifications

Material characterization

Customer-specific qualification

Potential offtake interest

Interested in hearing more?

Reach out to our team

Partner benefits

Local cementitious binder made from an industrial side stream, at a competitive production cost

Supports green-building certifications such as LEED and BREEAM

We're looking to collaborate on:

Material testing and requirements

Validation in relevant product settings

Potential offtake interest

Interested in hearing more?

Reach out to our team

TECHNOLOGY

Two linked technologies being developed into an integrated solution based on research at Aalto University

01

Steel slag-to-PCC technology

Stage: Validated in a pilot environment

Calcium extraction from steelmaking slag and production of PCC, developed over more than 20 years of research at Aalto University and covered by granted patents.

NEXTTesting suitable feedstocks and the process at demonstration scale

02

PCC residue-to-cementitious binder technology

Stage: Standardized performance testing underway

Conversion of the remaining PCC residue mineral stream into a cementitious binder. Covered by a patent application filed in 2025. Performance testing against the relevant standards is ongoing, and the certification and market-entry route is under assessment.

NEXTCompleting standardized testing and deepening validation for the most promising use cases

Interested in hearing more about the technology?

Discuss testing with our team

Team