Circea – upcycling biogenic CO2 side-streams in the agri-food industry

Situation

Every year, breweries and wineries in Switzerland emit approximately 25’000 tonnes of biogenic carbon dioxide (CO2) through their fermentation processes. In addition to these emissions, biomethane plants currently release up to 60’000 tonnes of CO2 wasted in the atmosphere while the Swiss economy imports a similar quantity of fossil-fuel based CO2. Circea’s mission is to upcycle these large resources of unused biogenic CO2 into a valuable product for the agricultural and the Food & Beverage (F&B) sectors at first, combining a technology of recovery, compression and purification of the gas, and market outlets for the CO2. Our approach aims to not only mitigate climate impact but also to foster the transition towards a more circular economy. By starting collaborating with wineries and breweries we demonstrate the feasibility of recovering and reusing small-scale biogenic CO2 as a sustainable ingredient. With the capacity to recover 85% of the CO2 generated, our project represents a significant opportunity to link local CO2 producers with businesses seeking renewable carbon sources, thereby reducing reliance on fossil fuels. Wineries and breweries are the first step of our project, but we start collaborating with biomethane plants, providing larger sources of CO2, all year long. Our end-vision is to create regional valorizations for bio-CO2 and ecosystems, leading the way towards a defossilised and circular economy for the future.