Liquid Granite: versatile as concrete, but made primarily from recycled materials

Idea Connection success story (2009)

Technology Breakthrough: Liquid Granite - A new fire-resistant building material that is as versatile as concrete, but made primarily from recycled materials.

Cement is considered by some to be something of an environmental menace, being responsible for 5% of the world’s carbon emissions.

To make Standard/Portland cement limestone or clay is heated to 1, 500 degrees Celsius, but this intense burst of energy releases large quantities of carbon dioxide. And so for several years the hunt has been on to find alternative solutions that are environmentally friendly.

Previous attempt to make cement more planet friendly have included adding more aggregate to a concrete mixture so that less cement is used. But this does nothing to reduce the amount of carbon that went into making the cement in the first place.

New Kid on the Block

The new kid on the construction industry block is a new form of liquid granite invented by Prof Pal Mangat of Sheffield Hallam University. He claims that it has the potential to make concrete redundant because of its incredible properties. It has remarkable load bearing capacity, whilst being a lightweight substance and it’s easy to apply and can be poured.

Mangat is keeping the exact formulation of Liquid Granite close to his chest, but says that it is made from an inorganic powder of which between 30 and 70 per cent is recycled industrial waste materials. It uses less than one third of the amount of cement that is found in precast concrete, and the inventor hopes to reduce that even further as he continues to develop the product over the coming years.

Complete article at: http://www.ideaconnection.com/invention-success/Liquid-Granite-00046.html