Could you introduce yourself and tell us a bit about your background?
My name is Nicolas Cruaud, and I’m a polytechnique engineer doing a year of specialisation at ISAE-SUPAERO. At X, I took courses in mechanics and entrepreneurship, and at ISAE-SUPAERO I’m studying Space Systems Design and Operation and Industrial Engineering.
Could you tell us more about Néolithe?
Néolithe aims to turn household waste into stone. We produce mineral aggregates that can be used in the construction industry, particularly for road underlay and concrete, from all types of non-recyclable waste (household waste, industrial waste, etc.).
It was originally a family project, which we developed with my father, my brother and Clément Bénassy, a young graduate of AgroParisTech. The idea came from my father, a stonemason and concrete formulator, who, observing the limestone he was cutting (resulting from the fossilisation and sedimentation of prehistoric waste), wondered whether we could also ‘fossilise’ our own waste, a little more quickly, to reduce the associated pollution.
We then pitched the idea at a Start-up Weekend at Ecole Polytechnique in March 2018, and have been working on the project ever since.
What are the benefits of your project in terms of sustainable development?
The environmental impact is the main advantage of our technology. Fossilising waste avoids incineration or landfill, and the associated pollution. Compared with incineration, our process reduces CO2 emissions by 80%. In France as a whole, this would represent a 5% reduction in the country’s total CO2 emissions, all industries combined! That’s twice as much as all the CO2 produced by air traffic. And because our aim is to implement our process on a very large scale, the cost of treating waste by fossilisation is the same as the cost of incineration: for the same price, you’re going green!
What are your plans and prospects for Néolithe?
This September, we will be commissioning our first fossiliser, a mobile (container-based) waste treatment facility. The aim is to demonstrate our technology, and then to replicate it rapidly in France and Europe with local authorities and industry. Thanks to its agility, the Fossilisateur can be set up directly in a district, a small town, or on the site of a factory or building site, to treat waste on the spot. Our aim is to relocate waste processing as close as possible to where it is produced, so as to avoid transporting waste, which on average travels 100km by lorry before being landfilled or incinerated.
Engineering and sustainable development: what is the relevance of bringing these 2 sectors together?
I think there are different kinds of sustainable development. There’s a lot of talk about the little things we can do on a daily basis to reduce our environmental impact. I think that, although this is necessary, it is not the most important lever for sustainable development. In my opinion, the main lever is technological and industrial. We need to seek to achieve ecology on an industrial scale, through replicable and economically viable models. I think that’s why it’s vital to have engineers working in sustainable development. We need to find real technical solutions capable of revolutionising polluting sectors to reduce the environmental footprint of entire industries.
Related Content
Pages
Job offersAeronautics
Decarbonization
Internship
News
Corentin Lefloch, an engineering student, wins first prize at the USAIRE STUDENT AWARDS for his ideas on the future of aviationSustainability
News
ISAE-SUPAERO ranked among the top three institutions most committed to ecological and societal transition!Ranking
Sustainability
News
ICAO (International Civil Aviation Organisation) Congress: Laurent Joly, Deputy Director of Research at ISAE-SUPAERO, talks about the Institute's commitmentsEvent
Sustainability
Events
"Les Entretiens de Toulouse - Training through debate”: April 9 & 10, 2025 on the ISAE-SUPAERO campus"Les Entretiens de Toulouse" has become a must-attend event for the aerospace industry. A forum for the exchange and transmission of skills, this training through debate provides an opening onto subjects with high industrial stakes. The 2025 edition of the Entretiens de Toulouse will take place on April 9 & 10, 2025, in person, at ISAE-SUPAERO!
Aeronautics
Event
Innovation
News
Our alumni have their say: Meeting with Nathanaël Lecompte (S2021)Nathanaël is a recent graduate of ISAE-SUPAERO with a degree in engineering. Of all the opportunities available to him, he chose to pursue a career in renewable energy. He explains his motivations and his career path!
Sustainability
News
Work on decarbonising aviation recognised by the American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics (AIAA)Paul Saves, a doctoral student at ISAE-SUPAERO/ONERA, has won the 2022 Best Paper Award from the AIAA for his work in Multidisciplinary Design Optimization (MDO).
Decarbonization
Sustainability
News
The Institute is involved in the ecological transition of the aerospace ecosystemMeeting
Sustainability
Videos
HORIZONS, ISAE-SUPAERO's renewed sustainable development strategyAt ISAE-SUPAERO, environmental issues are at the heart of our commitment. We are therefore mobilizing our teaching skills and scientific expertise to help build the aeronautical and space components of this sustainable society, and in particular to invent the low-carbon air transport of tomorrow.
Horizons
Sustainability
News
AeroMAPS: a tool for assessing the environmental impacts of the aviation sector's transitionISAE-SUPAERO has released AeroMAPS, an open-source tool for modelling transition scenarios for the aviation sector. The result of three years of research at the Institute, it enables users to accurately assess the effectiveness of different impact reduction strategies in relation to international commitments to combat climate change.
Decarbonization
Sustainability
News
ISAE-SUPAERO is broadcasting the webinar "Air transport in crisis and the climate challenge: towards new paradigms" on campus!Event
Sustainability
Events
First edition of the Occitanie Talent MarketplaceOn November 13, 2025, at the Cité de Toulouse, ISAE-SUPAERO will be taking part in a first-of-its-kind event, the “Occitanie Talent Marketplace”, which will bring together start-ups from the university world in the Occitanie region and talents & skills wishing to take part in an entrepreneurial adventure.
Entrepreneurship
Event
Innovation
News
ISAE-SUPAERO expands its collaboration with TU Delft on sustainable aviationDuring President Macron's state visit to the Netherlands, five agreements were signed to strengthen collaboration between the two countries in the field of science and technology. Among them, an agreement between TU Delft and France provides for close collaboration between ISAE-SUPAERO and TU Delft in the field of sustainable aviation.
Decarbonization
Partnership
Sustainability
News
Ranking of the top schools most committed to ecological transition: ISAE-SUPAERO in 2nd place!Ranking
Sustainability
News
Our alumni have their say: Vinh Ly, co-founder of KyanosAlumni
Career
Startup
News
Envision responsible air transportAeronautics
Sustainability
News
Decarbonised aviation: first successful flight test for the hydrogen-powered Mermoz droneIn January, the first ‘Drone Mermoz’ demonstrator carrying hydrogen gas, developed by ISAE-SUPAERO in partnership with H3 DYNAMICS, successfully completed its first radio-controlled flight on the runway of the Muret model aircraft club in the Toulouse region (31).
Decarbonization
Sustainability
News
ISAE-SUPAERO Environmental Engineering Certificate: training engineers in the challenges of environmental and energy transitionsAeronautics
Sustainability
News
World Engineer Day 2020: a young alumni puts his engineering skills to work for the climateOn the occasion of ‘World Engineer Day 2020,’ which focuses on the theme of sustainable development, we present the profile of Maxime Efoui Hess.
Alumni
Presentation
Sustainability
News
The project for an unmanned, zero-emission aircraft to cross the South AtlanticInnovation
Researcher
Sustainability
News
ISAE-SUPAERO and ENAC are collaborating on the design of a 100% digital degree programme in English on the subject of aviation transitions!ISAE-SUPAERO and ENAC train engineers with a high level of scientific expertise, humanistic values and innovative skills to master the complex challenges of tomorrow's world in the fields of aerospace and air transport.
Decarbonization
Sustainability
News
ISAE-SUPAERO publishes an aviation and climate reportSustainability
Teacher researcher
News
Carbon neutrality: What strategy should ISAE-SUPAERO adopt?Sustainability
News
The SOLAR BOOST project helps address the problem of urban transportDecarbonization
Sustainability
News
Investing and committing to training and research to meet the challenges of the energy transitionISAE-SUPAERO and the ISAE-SUPAERO Foundation work together and take their share of responsibility for addressing these major challenges facing our society. Actions include raising awareness and training future aeronautical engineers, and setting up research programmes to better address energy and climate issues.
Sustainability
News
Our partners are going green!Sustainability
News
Let's make together a durable commitment to new horizonsAeronautics
Horizons
Sustainability
News
OSE L'ISAE-SUPAERO: a long-term commitmentDiversity program
Sustainability
News
COP2 Student: ISAE-SUPAERO affirms its commitment to ecological transition by signing the Grenoble AgreementSustainability