C3RN – Recycle, Reinvent, Revalorise – Proof of Concept

FCC MINING THE FUTURE

Back in January 2022, we reported on our successful participation in the FCC MINING THE FUTURE competition in which a sustainable solution for the reuse of excavated tunnel material molasse is being sought.

Together with our project partners MOBBOT, Medusoil, bilger+partner, Holcim, Pagani+Lanfranchi and the VSH (Versuchsstollen Hagerbach), we have since put our proposal “C3RN – Recycle, Reinvent, Revalorise” to the test beyond the idea phase and tested the reuse of the molasse using various laboratory experiments and technical tests.
We submitted our results as a “proof of concept” for the second competition phase and thus successfully completed the last phase of the MINING THE FUTURE competition.
Following the competition phases, the finalists of the four most promising proposals were invited to Geneva for the selection of the winner and the award ceremony.

The winner was selected based on four evaluation criteria:

• technical feasibility,
• economic viability,
• societal benefit and
• relevance of the project.

The finalists

C3RN: Recycle, Reinvent, Revalorize – Molassic excavated materials by harnessing digital & sorting tech. Lead Partner: Amberg Group
Molasse is the new ore – Lead Partner: BG Ingineurs
From Molasse to brick – Lead Partner: Briques Technic Concept
From Wastes to soil – Mineral Waste Reclamation into Fertile soil materials - Lead Partner: Edaphos

After all teams had another chance to present their proposals to the audience, the winner of the competition was announced: BG Ingineurs with their proposal: Molasse is the new ore, in which they present an online flow analysis, which is already used in cement plants, to immediately identify the excavated materials for further processing. 

So for us, coming second in this competition means anything but losing. Quite the contrary. We have gained a lot as a project group. In addition to long-term partners and fundamental know-how in the recycling of excavated materials, we were able to rediscover above all the cooperation within the Amberg Group. With the steadily growing need for recycling solutions in the material logistics of large construction projects in the future, Amberg Engineering and the Versuchsstollen Hagerbach have many joint opportunities ahead of them to expand and successfully use the synergies that have already emerged with the MINING THE FUTURE competition. 

More information on the individual proposals can be found here: http://miningthefuture.web.cern.ch/#how