SOST-RCD was created with a main objective focused on the research and development of new technologies aimed at generating products from CDW.
The main characteristic of these new products is that they have the same properties as construction materials from virgin raw materials. At the same time, they help to improve the current management systems of this type of waste that would normally end up in landfills, proposing and showing the economic and environmental advantages offered by this type of recovered and therefore more sustainable materials.
The project is coordinated by the La Torreta quarry, which is part of Origen, the materials division of the company. Symmetry Group. It has the participation of the Institute of Ceramic Technology (ITC-AICE), the Instituto Metalmecánico, Mueble, Madera, Embalaje y Afines (Aidimme) and members of the Instituto de Ciencia y Tecnología del Hormigón de la Universitat Politècnica de València (ICITECH-UPV).
SOST-RCD project activities
The project is broken down into three activities. In the first of these, the starting points of the project have been established with regard to the state of the art of the production techniques of current materials, the characterisation of the input CDW and the establishment of the global situation of CDW, both in its generation and its treatment.
The second activity focuses on laboratory-scale work to valorise CDW in different applications: aggregates for concrete and mortar, baked clay products and alkaline-activated products, known as geopolymers. Finally, in the third activity, pilot-scale tests will be carried out to obtain the different materials under study, carrying out quality controls to validate these applications.
In short, SOST-RCD implies a significant impact on the value chain of the construction sector, as well as promoting the circular economy as a business model in the production system of the Valencia Region. This opens up a new market by incorporating innovative techniques that are still practically unknown in the sector, involving new process designs, treatments and use of waste to give a new life to another type of construction and building that results in the well-being of those who inhabit the spaces and in the implementation of new economic models aligned with the Sustainable Development Goals.
