An ever-growing population and a continuing trend towards urbanisation mean that around 40 billion tonnes of sand are mined each year to meet the world’s increasing demand for construction materials. Because sand from the desert is unsuitable as a building material, it must be mined or dredged from rivers, deltas, and coastal and marine ecosystems, resulting in environmental damage. One solution is to use ash, a by-product of coal-fired power stations and waste-to-energy (WTE) incineration plants. Although the sustainable disposal of fly ash can prove challenging due to the metals it contains, the material also possesses valuable properties that make further processing worthwhile. The EU-funded SMARTSAND project developed Lypors™, an advanced engineered, artificial sand material manufactured from fly ash for use in the construction industry. “It is a superior and cost-effective alternative to natural sand, crushed stones and lightweight fine aggregates, for use in the manufacture of advanced building material derivatives such as concrete, mortars, roof tiles, tile adhesives, façade etc. It can also be used in certain niche applications like horticulture and hydroponics,” states Abbas Khan, founder and managing director at ZaaK Technologies, an innovation and technology development start-up focused on recycling industrial wastes into high-value products.
Historic environment news, events and more….