Valorization of diabase mud for the development of innovative building materials
| Host Organisation: | Latomia Pharmakas PLC |
| Partner Organisation(s): | PA 1: Frederick Research Center PA 2: RECS Civil Engineers & Partners L.L.C. PA 3: University of Cyprus |
| Project Budget: | 248.748,00 € |
| IDEK Funding: | 199.917,60 € |
The general objective of the DIAVAL project is to transform the diabase mud from waste to secondary raw material for the production of innovative binders and, hence, of marketable pre-casted building materials which will be mainly applied as paving blocks. The diabase mud is a residue coming from the regular production operations of the company. More specifically, the diabase mud is generated from the crushing procedure and after the washing of the aggregates. The washing results in the creation of a mud with a solid fraction, which is lower than 0.063 mm in size. Apart from the low fraction, this mud has a humidity content of almost 30%, rendering it an “inappropriate raw material” for the cement and concrete industry . The company has an annual production of diabase mud near 25000 tn, which is disposed of in a landfill close to the production facilities of the company. According to the EU legislation, the diabase mud should be recycled instead of disposed of in landfills. Up to 2012 this type of industrial waste had not even been registered in the Cyprus National Report. Towards this end, the scope of the project will be to setup a pilot production line for producing innovative building materials (paving blocks) from waste diabase mud, based on the innovative technology of geopolymerisation. The pilot products will be evaluated in terms of physicochemical and mechanical properties, as well as financial cost, to allow for their full market potential and uptake within 2 years after the end of the project. To achieve this a) the full characterization of the raw material will be carried out in the beginning along with the laboratory development of the materials and measurement of the most crucial properties and b) the engineering of the paving blocks and the scaling up to produce the prototype. At the end of the project the technoecoomical analysis as well as the business plan will be designed and evaluated in order to make the best commercialization of the produced material.