The UAE industrial gas company and the Saudi climate technology start-up will combine capture infrastructure with mineralisation processes that turn CO2 and industrial waste into low-carbon construction materials.
Gulf Cryo has signed a memorandum of understanding with CO2minX to develop carbon dioxide mineralisation projects across the region. The UAE-based industrial gas company will pair its CO2 infrastructure and market presence with the start-up’s conversion technology.
CO2minX was founded in 2025 as a spin-out from King Abdullah University of Science and Technology (KAUST) in Saudi Arabia. Its process locks captured CO2 and industrial waste streams into stable carbonate minerals, using feedstocks such as volcanic basalt and brine from desalination plants.
The outputs include high-purity mineral fillers such as precipitated calcium carbonate, along with metal-mineral composites. Both feed into low-carbon cement and other construction products, cutting the embodied carbon of building materials.
“The fit is natural: our mineralisation technology, their CO2 infrastructure, application expertise and regional reach,” Mouadh Addassi, founder and chief executive of CO2minX, wrote on LinkedIn. The partners intend to build an integrated carbon mineralisation platform, gasworld reported.
The underlying science has already been tested at scale. Earlier this year KAUST researchers injected 131 tonnes of CO2 into basalt formations in western Saudi Arabia. Around 70% of the gas mineralised within 10 months using recycled groundwater, showing the approach can work in arid regions without drawing on fresh water.
The prize is large if the process scales. Carbon removal research group Carbon180 puts the potential of carbon mineralisation at 5 to 10 gigatonnes of CO2 a year by 2050.
The agreement extends Gulf Cryo’s run of carbon capture and utilisation deals in the Gulf. The company already operates a carbon capture facility in the UAE and has agreed to develop a capture model for steelmaker Emsteel.
For heavy emitters in the region, the tie-up points to a route for captured CO2 beyond storage alone. Cement and steel producers could source both capture services and low-carbon mineral inputs from a single regional supply chain.
