The Almerian multinational Cosentino announced this Monday in Madrid the only medium-sized project in Spain selected by the European Commission’s Innovation Fund. This is a “technology career” which will mean an investment of 90 million euros and the future construction of a pioneering industrial-scale factory on a global scale.
Cosentino, a world-leading company in the production of sustainable surfaces for architecture and design, has announced its latest advances and milestones in terms of innovation and R&D. With two National Innovation Awards, the company has established itself as leading company and reference in its sector on a global scale thanks to the development of new disruptive materials and the application of the latest technologies both in terms of efficiency of production processes and digitalization of the value chain.
In 2023, Cosentino invested 22 million euros of R&D&I projects and assetsbringing this figure to more than 100 million accumulated over the last five years. A commitment which is also based on a vast industrial property portfolio which covers 30 families of patents in force which protect different inventions in the different countries where it operates, in addition to 88 different registered models.
During the press conference held at Cosentino City Madrid, Álvaro de la Haza, Executive Vice President of Cosentino, analyzed the current perspectives of the stone and technical surfaces industry, as well as the international context and current macroeconomic. Likewise, it framed both the commitment to digitalization in general and the project “Technological career” in Cosentino’s three-year investment plans. Thus, he recalled that the 2024-2026 Investment Plan is currently being implemented, which amounts in total to nearly 400 million euros.
According to de la Haza, “our innovation strategy revolves around two axes, which are efficiency and sustainability, in order to continue to dominate an increasingly demanding market, product of the advance of Asian competitionthe environmental challenge and raw material costs, maintaining our commitment to centralized production in our Almería industrial park.
Álvaro de la Haza, executive vice president of Cosentino, during the presentation
Alongside its commitment to the circular economy and decarbonization, the company presented “Circular Technology Quarry” (CT Quarry), a project that will involve, as explained by Valentín Tijeras, vice president of the innovation and products,the strongest growth in the sector globally in over a decade“. With a total investment estimated at 90 million euros, it is one of 16 medium-sized projects, and the only one in Spain, selected in the latest call for the European Commission’s Innovation Fund.
The “Circular Technology Career” aims for the future construction of a pioneering factory on an industrial scale worldwide for produce innovative and sustainable raw materials for the European construction, glass and ceramic materials sectors, respecting three fundamental principles: low carbon emissions, circularity and safety.
Thus, the new plant will treat more than 100,000 tons per year of residual industrial sludge from Cosentino’s production processes, thus avoiding their discharge and transforming them, in combination with other materials, into 247,000 tonnes per year of new raw materials for which their future applications are already designed. The project integrates the use of renewable fuels and electrical energy, with heat recovery systems, and is expected to enable an absolute reduction in GHG emissions of more than one million tonnes of CO2 in ten years.
