The world's most environmentally friendly aerated concrete has emerged from the laboratories of the Polytechnic University of Valencia and is made from a combination of rice husk ash, aluminium foil and waste from the blast furnace iron making and fuel production process.
Researchers at the UPV's Institute of Concrete Science and Technology (ICITECH) have created this lightweight, insulating concrete, made from 85 % of waste materials and whose production process generates around 78 % less pollutant emissions than current cellular concretes.
"It also increases energy efficiency because it is an insulating material," added the ICITECH-UPV researcher, whose work has been published in the journal Green Chemistry.
In this new cellular concrete, as a precursor, researchers have used blast furnace slag, which is a residue from the iron manufacturing process, as well as residues from the catalyst used in catalytic cracking to obtain fuels.
"The precursor replaces commercial cement; using this type of material helps to reduce greenhouse gas emissions from the production of clinker," Jordi Payá, from the same research group, told EFE.
As part of the chemical activator, the researchers have partially replaced the conventionally synthesised chemical reagent, whose drawbacks are its high carbon footprint and high price, with rice husk ash.
"We have used this ash because we know it well, but there are other components that come from biomass that can be used," he says, pointing out that, in addition to being an alternative energy source, the final waste generated by biomass "can be used to replace traditional materials".
