The groundbreaking ceremony on April 4, 2025, officially marked the start of the construction of one of the first industrial-scale Carbon Capture and Use (CO₂ separation) plants in Austria. The horticultural family Merschl is showing how it's done.
125 years of tradition in vegetable growing and already meeting the 2040 climate targets
Merschl has been a highly innovative vegetable-growing business for more than 125 years. Around 3,000 metric tons of tomatoes are harvested annually from 86,000 m² of greenhouse space and sold by LGV Gärtnergemüse. In this way, the Merschl family makes a significant contribution to the food security of Vienna and Austria with fresh vegetables. Resource conservation, climate protection, and material and waste management were and are top priorities and are supported by the sustainability program of the Vienna Chamber of Agriculture. Now the Merschl family is taking a decisive step into the future with their 14 million euro investment.
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The technical implementation: an exemplary innovation
The Merschl family's greenhouses offer stable temperatures all year round. The indoor climate was previously maintained conventionally with gas. The new plant is a wood chip-based heat generation system with a highly innovative Carbon Capture System connected to it. In his speech, specialist planner Bernhard Russold from PE Solutions emphasized the complexity: "That's why we decided on a 5 MW biomass boiler from HerzBinder, which was able to guarantee the best performance data for the very complex requirements." And Arie van der Meulen, CTO of Green Gas & Liquids (Netherlands), added: "Our proven Carbon Capture System is environmentally friendly, economically effective and makes the Merschl family independent of fossil-produced CO₂, which reduces the footprint and significantly supports the growth of the tomatoes."
Unique selling point and best practice model for Austrian climate protection
In this case, the CO₂ is not stored, as in CCS (Carbon Capture and Store) plants, but is reused: the CO₂ is blown into the greenhouses through dedicated pipes, absorbed by the plants and thus promotes their growth. "The negative CO₂ is turned into a resource – a milestone! This is the unique selling point of this plant: circular economy par excellence because several cycles are optimized here: the CO2 cycle, the heat cycle, the plant growth cycle and also the financial cycle for more domestic added value," they explain.
Political incentives and entrepreneurial spirit work together
The regulatory framework and the financial incentives provided by the government, in addition to the entrepreneurial spirit of the Merschl family, are the decisive drivers for being able to implement such projects at all. Jürgen Schneider, head of the Climate Section at the Federal Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry, Environment, Regions and Water Management, was pleased: "Showcase projects like this one demonstrate how the transformation can succeed and how ecological measures can be implemented in practice; here, too, climate protection and the economy are successfully going hand in hand."
Bernd Vogl, managing director of the Austrian Climate and Energy Fund, added: "The domestic economy is facing enormous challenges. Companies like Merschl Gartenbau show that green investments are the right answer. After all, reducing greenhouse gas emissions is essential for the long-term success of Austria as a business location."
Supermarket customers benefit
Finally, it is the end customers of the large retail companies who benefit from the investment of the Merschl family: the supply chain and ecological quality of the food are transparent and traceable. The event ended with the closing words of moderator Wolfgang Horn: "This project is unique in Austria in terms of its scale and level of refinement!"
For more information:
Merschl Gartenbau GmbH
Hänischgasse 11
1220 Vienna
Telephone: 0664 151 63 36
E-Mail: gartenbau@merschl.com
https://www.merschl.com/
www.lgv.at
PE Solutions GmbH
Ringgasse 2
8073 Seiersberg-Pirka
Phone: +43 (0) 664 43 29 855
E-Mail: info@pesolutions.at
www.pesolutions.at
www.greengasliquids.com