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  • Converting waste glass into waterglass

Converting waste glass into waterglass

PROJECT OVERVIEW

The aim of this interdisciplinary project is to develop a robust strategy to make waterglass from waste glasses, in particular from waste grades unsuitable for recycle in the glass manufacturing process.

Key people:

Prof. M. Soutsos (Principal Investigator) - School of Natural and Built Environment, QUB

Dr M. Swadzba-Kwasny (Co-Investigator) - School of Chemistry and Chemical Engineering, QUB

Dr J Kwasny (Post doctoral research assistant) - School of Natural and Built Environment, QUB

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Impact of Research

The technology will provide the opportunity to generate an added-value commodity chemical, i.e. waterglass, in a cost- and energy efficient manner. The advancement will provide an economically-viable route to recycling waste glass.  Our project will have an immediate impact on the cementless concrete sector, i.e. will allow making concretes with cementless binders an economically attractive when compared with equivalent Portland cement concretes, with major contribution towards decarbonisation of the construction sector.

Major grants and funding

This project is funded by:

(i) “REcovery and uSe of Cement kIlN Dust as the alkali activator for Geopolymeric (Cementless) Concrete Building Blocks (RESCIND)”, EPSRC/Innovate ref nr: EP/N508962/1, Total grant value: £193K, Status: completed, https://ukerc.rl.ac.uk/cgi-bin/ercri7.pl?GRN=EP/N508962/1 

(ii) “Low Carbon footprint Precast Concrete products for an energy efficient built environment (LowCoPreCon)”, Innovate UK (Newton Fund) ref nr: 102721, Total grant value: £910K, Status: active, https://gtr.ukri.org/projects?ref=102721 

(iii) “Converting waste glass into waterglass”, Invest Northern Ireland funded PoC project, Total grant value: £111K, Status: ongoing.

(iv) “Glass cUllet conversIon To wAteRglass (GUITAR)”, funded by Innovate UK, under competition call “ISCF Transforming foundation industries: Building a resilient recovery”, Total grant value: £641K (£253K funding in cash for QUB and remaining £388K between 4 industrial partners), Status: starting on 1/4/2021.

Publications

R. Vinai and M. Soutsos, “Production of sodium silicate powder from waste glass cullet for alkali activation of alternative binders”, Cement and Concrete Research, Volume 116, February 2019, Pages 45-56.

Collaborators

The School of Natural and Built Environment at Queen's University Belfast is one of several partners involved in this project. Details of all partners are as follows: 

Macrete Ireland Limited http://www.macrete.com/contact-us/ 

Creagh Concrete Products Limited, UK www.creaghconcrete.co.uk 

Sunway Paving Solutions, Malaysia www.sunwaypavingsolutions.com/ 

Ikhmas Jaya Group Berhad, Malaysia www.ikhmasjaya.com/ 

Monash University, Malaysia www.monash.edu/ 

Centre for Innovative Construction Technology (CICT), Department of Civil Engineering, University of Malaya, Malaysia https://cict.um.edu.my/ 

Sustainable Development Goals

This project aims to address the following SDGs:

Goal 9 - Industry, Innovation and Infrastructure

This will be achieved by providing opportunity to generate an added-value chemical, i.e. waterglass, in a cost and energy efficient manner.

Goal 11 - Sustainable Cities and Communities

Project fits well within the urban mining strategies for waste management (waste glass) and the 3R policy of circular economy.

Goal 12 - Responsible Consumption and Production

This will be accomplished by conservation of virgin material and instead usage of waste glass in creation of added-value product (waterglass).

Goal 13 - Climate Action

This goal will be reached by lowering the carbon footprint of the high energy demanding waterglass making process, and ultimately in generating ultra-low carbon concrete.

Find out more
  • Marios Soutsos
    Professor of Structures/Materials
    School of Natural and Built Environment
    Queen's University
    David Keir Building
    Stranmillis Road
    Belfast BT9 5AG
  • m.soutsos@qub.ac.uk
    Tel: +44 (0)28 9097 4023
    Fax: +44 (0)28 9097 4278
 
 
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