BioActivo Group – Grupo BioActivo

Driving sustainable solutions.

Grupo BioActivo

Who We Are

A group that originates where the resource is located.

Grupo BioActivo is a Chilean mineral biotechnology and applied science group based in the Biobío Region. We bring together three organizations that share a common starting point: the minerals of the Arauco coal basin have much more to offer than what they yielded over the last century. For more than a hundred years, this region provided its coal to be burned. We are working toward the opposite: taking that same resource and transforming it into materials that clean, retain, and regenerate. Instead of fuel—products. Instead of energy that is consumed—matter that solves problems. Behind that decision lies another of equal importance. This project is established right where the resource is found, alongside people who understand industry because they have always made their living from it. The transformation of the Arauco province requires a new chapter of industrial production, and we want to write it here.

Our Companies

We activate the present.
We transform the future.

We developed a plant that transforms mineral coal from the Arauco province into activated carbon—the material that purifies drinking water, captures vapors and odors before they reach the atmosphere, and recovers gold dissolved during mining operations.

Discover BioActivo

Results that
spring from the earth.

Introducing Humalite, an organic mineraloid derived from coal and formed through natural oxidation over thousands of years. It is a reservoir of humic and fulvic acids that acts as both a sponge and a magnet in the soil: it retains moisture in the root zone and restores vitality to depleted land.

Discover VetaVerde

Center for Innovation
in Applied Science.

It is the group’s technical heart and its gateway to the region. CICA Biobío researches, characterizes, prototypes, and validates solutions in water treatment, soil remediation, odor control, and advanced materials—such as functionalized carbons, porous materials, and hybrid systems incorporating MOFs—for the group’s companies and for external clients.

Discover CICABiobío

What drives us

Four convictions that guide everything we do

Decentralizing Innovation

World-class science does not necessarily have to be conducted in the capital. It can be done here, with local people, focusing on the resources found here.

Import Substitution

Activated carbon and bio-inputs that currently travel halfway across the world to reach Chile can be produced just a few kilometers from where they are used. Less distance, a smaller footprint, and greater productive sovereignty.

Working with Evidence

We do not start from assumptions. Every assertion is backed by instrumental analysis, laboratory testing, and experimental validation.

Circular Economy

Saturated activated carbon is reactivated and returned to service. Spent soil is recovered. Nothing is designed to end up as waste.

Territory

Curanilahue and the province of Arauco are not just an address.

The closure of the mines left behind an economy still seeking a replacement and a workforce with industrial skills that remains in the area. Those skills were not lost; they simply waited for an opportunity to be put to use.

We chose this region for concrete reasons—its resources, connectivity, and people—but above all, based on a conviction: we believe a new industry must be built together with the local community. Our headquarters are in Concepción to connect with scientific and business networks, while our development and operations are based in Curanilahue—where the value created should remain.

A new industry for a territory with a rich industrial heritage.
Grupo BioActivo transforms geology into materials, science into solutions, and knowledge into local capabilities. If you work in mining, agribusiness, aquaculture, forestry, water treatment, or public land management
—or if you simply want to know what we are building in your community—
let’s talk.