Alkaline Technologies recovers the valuable metals contained in mineral waste, while immobilising pollutants and permanently storing CO₂
Discover our solutionThe challenge
Sources: European Commission (Critical Raw Materials Act), Reuters / BMI 2025
The European Union has set itself a target for recycling its strategic raw materials by 2030. Some of these metals are already on its territory: in its industrial residues, currently landfilled or used as backfill
The European Court of Auditors’ special report on critical raw materials for the energy transition (2026) ↗ is clear: “Many strategic projects will struggle to secure their supply of critical raw materials by 2030”
Our solution
Washing cleans the material and liberates the metals. In our trials, up to 90% of soluble salts are removed
Liquid-phase separation of metals. Pollutants become a resource again
Liquid-phase immobilisation of pollutants through recombination with sequestered CO₂
Production of clean construction materials, and reuse of process water
Your project
Analysis of your samples to assess their potential
Process tests on your materials, at laboratory scale
Identification of outlets for the metals and materials, and sizing of the plant
Larger-scale trials to validate performance under your actual conditions
Implementation of the industrial plant, with our support
The resources we process
Incineration bottom ash (IBA) fines (0–2 mm) concentrate critical and precious metals, including gold and rare earths, that remain after current treatments. Our solution recovers them. Decontaminating the fines opens up new uses. We already process them in France and Italy in our experimental facilities
The ability of the fines to permanently sequester CO₂ is an advantage we harness, alongside a drastic reduction in pollution
Building on the PhD work of our CTO Quentin Wehrung, Alkaline Technologies is running several projects on this topic: ASHES, PRELEVMANS…
Our technology generates new revenue from recovered metals, produced materials and sequestered CO₂
Our technology platform also applies to electric arc furnace slags, industrial dusts, and mining or metallurgical residues
Our team
Alkaline Technologies recovers the valuable metals contained in mineral waste, while immobilising pollutants and permanently storing CO₂
Based in the Nantes area, we have strong collaborations with the University of Turin and the Politecnico di Torino
CEO, co‑founder
A graduate of École Centrale Paris (2005), Fabien has over 20 years of experience in entrepreneurship and decarbonisation. He co‑founded Enertime in 2008, an innovative industrial SME in the energy transition, then founded Voltigital in 2019, an engineering and consulting firm specialising in low‑carbon technologies, followed by the Carborok brand, dedicated to CO₂ sequestration in recycled concrete. Fabien regularly speaks as an expert on CO₂ capture, utilisation and sequestration
CTO, co‑founder
With a PhD in CO₂ mineralisation of incineration residues, Quentin has 8 years of experimental R&D in academia: over 1,000 mineralisation tests, more than 10 scientific papers and more than 10 international conferences. He created and led the ASHES programme, winner of the French Tech Emergence grant, and conducted experimental campaigns at synchrotron facilities. He heads R&D and process development, and supervises engineering students
University of Turin
CNRS, Toulouse
Process engineer
École polytechnique
Arkema, CO2met, Erypharm
References
Through PRELEVMANS (preparing the evolution of bottom ash treatment in Le Mans), we are characterising IBA fines and reviewing local opportunities to valorise the treated materials
Client: Le Mans Métropole
The REd Gypsum Innovative Solution project explores new outlets for certain types of gypsum for a building materials manufacturer: metal recovery, processing, valorisation
Client: Confidential
The ASHES project (Advanced Sampling for a Harmonized Environmental Solution) aims to develop tools to study the technological building blocks for metal extraction and material decontamination
Funding: Bpifrance
Publications
Journal of Hazardous Materials, 143900 · DOI 10.1016/j.jhazmat.2026.143900
Fuel, 426, 139636 · DOI 10.1016/j.fuel.2026.139636
Environmental Technology & Innovation, 104943 · DOI 10.1016/j.eti.2026.104943
Contact
Alkaline Technologies recovers the valuable metals contained in mineral waste, while immobilising pollutants and permanently storing CO₂
Plant operators, manufacturers, local authorities or investors: get in touch
hello@alkalinetech.com44700 Orvault, France
Department of Earth Sciences (DST)
University of Turin, Italy
Department of Environment, Land and Infrastructure Engineering (DIATI)
Politecnico di Torino, Italy