Nonmetallic Mineral
The Nonmetallic Mineral Product Manufacturing subsector transforms mined or quarried nonmetallic minerals, such as sand, gravel, stone, clay, and refractory materials, into products for intermediate or final consumption. Processes used include grinding, mixing, cutting, shaping, and honing. Heat often is used in the process and chemicals are frequently mixed to change the composition, purity, and chemical properties for the intended product. For example, glass is produced by heating silica sand to the melting point (sometimes combined with cullet or recycled glass) and then drawn, floated, or blow molded to the desired shape or thickness. Refractory materials are heated and then formed into bricks or other shapes for use in industrial applications.
Assembly Line
The moon is just the beginning for this waterless concrete
If NASA establishes a permanent presence on the moon, its astronauts’ homes could be made of a new 3D-printable, waterless concrete. Someday, so might yours. By accelerating the curing process for more rapid construction, this sulfur-based compound could become just as applicable on our home terrain as it is on lunar soil.
Traditional concrete requires large amounts of water, a commodity that will be in short supply on the moon and critically important for life support or scientific research, according to the American Society of Civil Engineers. While prior NASA projects have tested compounds that could be used to make “lunarcrete,” they’re still working to craft the right waterless material.
So LSU researchers are refining the formula, developing a new cement based on sulfur, which they heat until it’s molten to bind material without the need for water. In recent work, the team mixed their waterless cement with simulated lunar and Martian soil to create a 3D-printable concrete, which they used to assemble walls and beams. “We need automated construction, and NASA thinks 3D printing is one of the few viable technologies for building lunar infrastructure,” says Kazemian.
The AI Boom Rests on Billions of Tonnes of Concrete
Concrete is not just a major ingredient in data centers and the power plants being built to energize them. As the world’s most widely manufactured material, concrete—and especially the cement within it—is also a major contributor to climate change, accounting for around 6 percent of global greenhouse gas emissions. Data centers use so much concrete that the construction boom is wrecking tech giants’ commitments to eliminate their carbon emissions.
At the construction site for ATL4, I’m met by Tony Qoori, the company’s big, friendly, straight-talking head of construction. He says that this giant building and four others DataBank has recently built or is planning in the Atlanta area will together add 133,000 square meters (1.44 million square feet) of floor space. They all follow a universal template that Qoori developed to optimize the construction of the company’s ever-larger centers. At each site, trucks haul in more than a thousand prefabricated concrete pieces: wall panels, columns, and other structural elements. Workers quickly assemble the precision-measured parts. Hundreds of electricians swarm the building to wire it up in just a few days. Speed is crucial when construction delays can mean losing ground in the AI battle.
Yet change is afoot. When I visited the innovation center operated by the Swiss materials giant Holcim, in Lyon, France, research executives told me about the database they’ve assembled of nearly 1,000 companies working to decarbonize cement and concrete. None yet has enough traction to measurably reduce global concrete emissions. But the innovators hope that the boom in data centers—and in associated infrastructure such as new nuclear reactors andoffshore wind farms, where each turbine foundation can use up to 7,500 cubic meters of concrete—may finally push green cement and concrete beyond labs, startups, and pilot plants.
China accounts for more than half of the concrete produced and used in the world, but companies there are hard to track. Outside of China, the top three multinational cement producers—Holcim, Heidelberg Materials in Germany, and Cemex in Mexico—have launched pilot programs to snare CO2 emissions before they escape and then bury the waste deep underground. To do that, they’re taking carbon capture and storage (CCS) technology already used in the oil and gas industry and bolting it onto their cement plants.
Schneider Electric and Saint-Gobain Collaborate on Innovative Automation Initiative Driving Smarter and Safer Glass Production
Schneider Electric, leader in the digital transformation of energy management and automation, and Saint-Gobain, leader in light and sustainable construction, have joined forces to deploy the first-of-its kind software-defined automation system for glass production.
Unveiled at Glasstec 2024, the world’s leading trade fair for the glass industry, the project addresses the urgent need for enhanced reliability in the critical lehr process. This furnace, vital for annealing and cooling flat glass, usually lasts for 15 to 20 years. However, any downtime in the process halts production completely, as highlighted by industry studies, where a mere 1-minute power interruption can lead to up to 6 months of production loss, often requiring equipment replacement, and costing up to €200,000 per day.
Saint-Gobain together with Schneider Electric has developed the first open automation solution for the lehr process. The proof of concept (POC) is powered by Schneider Electric’s open automation technology, EcoStruxure Automation Expert (EAE) which decouples hardware and software, allowing devices and equipment to be freely connected across architecture layers, regardless of manufacturer.
Vidrala champions circular economy by reusing biomass waste in innovative, sustainable production of glass bottles in Spain
Vidrala, a leading company in the design and manufacture of sustainable glass containers, has undertaken an innovative pilot project in Spain in collaboration with Acciona Energía, focused on the reuse of biomass slag in the production process of 18.3 million glass bottles.
The pilot used 230 tonnes of biomass slag generated during the combustion of biomass at Acciona’s renewable electricity generation plant in Briviesca, Burgos. The waste generated from the burning of biomass is known as ‘slag’.
This material contains a high percentage of silica, a key component in glass manufacturing. Its reuse has significantly reduced the need for silica sand and replaced part of the sodium carbonate, optimising the production process and reducing the environmental footprint.
Following a research and testing process for slag treatment, the process has been successfully adapted, meeting all the strength and durability requirements characteristic of glass bottles produced through the usual process. The slag treatment was carried out in Asturias, while the bottles were manufactured at the Aiala Vidrio plant in Llodio in northern Spain.
New bio-based concrete admixture is scaling up production
A new biomass-based liquid admixture for concrete uniquely combines the benefits of traditional performance-enhancing additives with decarbonization. Hydrous bio-graphene oxide (hBGO), developed by AlterBiota, is a stable, high-solids dispersion that helps to improve strength and durability, reducing the amount of carbon-intensive and expensive Portland cement used, while also drastically reducing the carbon footprint via the use of carbon-negative feedstock. Unlike other lower-carbon concrete technologies like carbonation or supplemental cementitious materials, hBGO requires no modification to admixture dosing systems or batching practices. And other performance-enhancing additives, such as superplasiticizers, are significantly more carbon-intensive than hBGO, as they are derived from fossil-fuel feedstocks.
Flexshuttle automated formulation laboratory
Cement recycling method could help solve one of the world’s biggest climate challenges
Researchers from the University of Cambridge have developed a method to produce very low-emission concrete at scale – an innovation that could be transformative in the transition to net zero. The method, which the researchers say is “an absolute miracle”, uses the electrically-powered arc furnaces used for steel recycling to simultaneously recycle cement, the carbon-hungry component of concrete.
The Cambridge researchers found that used cement is an effective substitute for lime flux, which is used in steel recycling to remove impurities and normally ends up as a waste product known as slag. But by replacing lime with used cement, the end product is recycled cement that can be used to make new concrete. The cement recycling method developed by the Cambridge researchers, reported in the journal Nature, does not add any significant costs to concrete or steel production and significantly reduces emissions from both concrete and steel, due to the reduced need for lime flux.
Laser Optics Fabrication in the Florida Laser Optics Center
Bulk handling system cuts dust, improves accuracy at graphite plant
Asbury Graphite & Carbons is one of the largest global processors of graphite and other carbon materials used in the plastics, automotive, lubrication, powder metallurgy, petroleum and coatings industries. Its European installation in the Netherlands opened in 2014 to take in raw graphite from around the world, reduce it into fine particles through a variety of milling and screening processes and fill 2,200 lb bulk bags and smaller bags, based on customer needs.
The plant operators had experienced problems with inaccurate fill weights of milled graphite, as well as issues with dust control. The bulk bag filler frames operated with a poorly designed bag spout seal that wasn’t reliable. “Very often, the seal inflated incorrectly or wasn’t strong enough or exploded,” Stassen said. As a result, dust and fine particles escaped, putting the plant’s compliance with Dutch health and safety guidelines at risk. Spills were also occurring with the original bulk bag dischargers. “We had to do something else,” Stassen said.
On the recommendation of Dutch distributor Matec Techniek, the company turned to Flexicon (Europe) Ltd., which specializes in bulk bag filling and discharging systems. “We tried one bulk bag filling station, and that reduced our dust big time,” Stassen said. “So we chose to go forward with Flexicon for all 11 stations, followed over the years by nine bulk bag dischargers and numerous flexible screw conveyors. They reduced dust tremendously in the plant.”
A New Type of Glass Promises to Cut Glass Manufacturing's Carbon Footprint in Half
The invention, known as LionGlass and engineered by researchers at Penn State, needs considerably less energy to produce and is highly damage-resistant compared to the standard soda lime silicate glass. The research group has filed a patent application as an initial step toward bringing the product to market.
Mauro believes that the enhanced strength of LionGlass means that the products made from it could be lighter in weight. Since LionGlass is 10 times more damage resistant compared to present glass, it could be considerably thinner.
Vitriform3D’s Story: How Glass–an Infinitely Recyclable Material–is Fueling a Startup
Pulled from the Latin word vitri for glass, Vitriform3D is forming new products through 3D printing. With their patent-pending technology, they plan to make coasters, tiles, countertops, even architectural accent walls by embedding recycled glass into 3D printing. It’s a small start-up for now of only Alex Stiles and Dustin Gilmer, who may have never met without IACMI – The Composites Institute. We joke, “All roads lead to Uday Vaidya,” and in this case, it’s true. Dr. Vaidya, Chief Technology Officer for IACMI, was Alex’s advisor during his PhD program at the University of Tennessee, Knoxville (UT). In one of Uday’s many collaborations with outside research groups, Dustin and Alex first worked together on novel methods for 3D printing washout mandrels for composites
So, what gives them hope their startup will succeed? Dustin and Alex have discovered that by reducing glass to a powder, their 3D printed product is more predictable than conventional thermoplastic printed parts. Low expansion and contraction during heating makes it an excellent potential material for autoclave tooling. The binder jetting process can maintain high resolution at large scale, requiring less post-production than a typical large scale thermoplastic 3D print. The finishing process is often what adds considerable time and therefore costs to additive manufacturing. Not here. All that’s left is proving they can scale up for commercialization, which admittedly takes time and money..
Vidrala How glass is made (subtitled)
An App for Bulk Material Handling and Analysis in Cement Manufacturing
Cement analyzers provide real-time online elemental analysis of an entire raw material process stream using technologies like Prompt Gamma Neutron Activation Analysis (PGNAA) and Pulsed Fast Thermal Neutron Activation (PFTNA) technology. These analyzers can aid in consistent stockpile quality, reduced chemistry variability, decreased kiln upsets and kiln fuel costs, extended quarry life, and minimized use of highest cost materials.
Glass Bottle Manufacturing Process (2021 Updated) - Roetell
Glass production » Pharma bottles | Stoelzle Pharma Health & Safety
CoRncrete: A corn starch based building material
Starch is a natural polymer which is commonly used as a cooking ingredient. The renewability and bio-degradability of starch has made it an interesting material for industrial applications, such as production of bioplastic. This paper introduces the application of corn starch in the production of a novel construction material, named CoRncrete. CoRncrete is formed by mixing corn starch with sand and water. The mixture appears to be self-compacting when wet. The mixture is poured in a mould and then heated in a microwave or an oven. This heating causes a gelatinisation process which results in a hardened material having compressive strength up to 26 MPa. The factors affecting the strength of hardened CoRncrete such as water content, sand aggregate size and heating procedure have been studied. The degradation and sustainability aspects of CoRncrete are elucidated and limitations in the potential application of this material are discussed.