The fact that the world is currently facing a sand shortage sparked the inspiration for this project, which fuses resources from EasyMining with the creative expertise of Form Us With Love. As the second most consumed material, globally, sand does not regenerate at the same pace at which it is consumed. As a result, illegal sand mining is currently the planet’s third biggest crime.
Utilising a co-product of EasyMining’s Ash2Phos process of turning sewage sludge ash into phosphorus products, Form Us With Love invited companies to explore the re-purposing of red silica sand in architectural applications, with the work-in-progress, so far, shared at last week’s event in Stockholm.
As part of the material application research, each company focused on a different architectural element, from paint and wood wool insulation to terrazzo, tiles, and outdoor concrete furniture.
We investigated three potential applications for the ‘waste’ within our Alusid surface products: as an ingredient in our terrazzo solid surfaces; as a colouring component in ceramic glazes; and finally, and most successfully, to produce terracotta tiles, where we were able to achieve a 60% inclusion rate for a fully vitrified tile, with a reduced firing temperature.
EasyMining plans to develop multiple plants across Europe using their proprietary technology and estimates each plant will produce 16,000 tonnes of this co-product per annum. This is enough to manufacture approximately 1.4 million square m2 of floor tiles.
“Imagine being able to use an industrial co-product to replace materials, lowering the CO2 footprint and reducing use of virgin resources. As the construction industry consumes huge quantities of sand, there is great potential to be had in replacing such a scarce commodity with this climate friendly, recycled sand.” – Form Us With Love
To find out more about this fascinating project, click here.