The Inorganic Environmental Chemistry and Ceramic Materials Group of the Jaume I University de Castelló has developed and validated, through a research project, the valorisation, transfer and exploitation of refreshing pigments (cooling pigments) and photocatalytic based scheelite to reduce the temperature of buildings and reduce air pollution by up to 20%.
The tests to check the effectiveness of these pigments have been carried out by the research team on the rooftop of the building of the School of Technology and Experimental Sciences of the UJI, with funding from the Valencian Agency for Innovation (AVI).
Decrease in surface temperature
The team has tested cooling pigments that exhibit high infrared reflectance, rejecting infrared radiation rays from buildings and lowering the surface temperature by about three degrees and preventing the urban heat island effect, which is when dark surfaces of city envelopes and asphalt surfaces absorb the sun's energy and then slowly release it, causing the temperature of urban areas to be higher than the surrounding areas and also increasing the likelihood of the formation of smogs (polluting clouds).
20% air pollution reduction
These tests showed that the photocatalytic pigments used were able to reduce air pollution, especially nitrogen oxides (NOx), volatile organic compounds (VOCs) and carbon monoxide (CO), by around 20%.
