Potential for millions of tonnes of new raw materials

Raw materials are becoming scarce and expensive. The magic word is resource efficiency. Against this background, the utilization of secondary or waste-derived materials, appropriately tested for their suitability, is becoming increasingly lucrative. For example, the use of substitute clay materials is now common even in brick and roofing tile plants. A key factor in this context are services such as quality control in the laboratory and management of the logistics. The brick plants only have to place an order to get the ball rolling.

Motives for use in brick plants can be found more and more frequently in prolonging the lifetime of a company’s own reserves of raw materials and the reduction of CO2 emissions. Often, however, also in the particular ceramic properties of these materials. Be it, depending on the starting rock, a particularly low body density, pronounced sintering activity or balanced particle size distribution with maximum particle sizes of 0.4 – 1.0 cm.

 

Potential for high-grade materials

More and more sites in the German quarrying industry are upgrading. Fine-particle filler material, which used to be considered unproductive waste, are homogeneously wetted in tubular screw conveyors. This enables their transport on conventional HGV trailers for dust-free use in the brick plants. This opens up potential for millions of tonnes of high-grade materials for the clay brick and tile industry. In addition, the availability of filter cake from sand and rock washing is increasing.

The team at Krakow Rohstoffe is, as the company itself reports, is regarded as a pioneer in the marketing and distribution of substitute clay materials for the clay brick and tile industry. Back in 2007, Lutz Krakow was presented with the Innovation Award for the first zero-clay brick by the district of Nordhausen. It was produced at the Peine brick plant operated by AKA Klinker – today Vandersanden.

x

Related articles:

Issue 1/2016 Interview with Dr. rer. nat. Lutz Krakow, Dr. Krakow Rohstoffe GmbH, Göttingen

From mineral waste to clay potential – raw materials for the clay brick and roofing tile industry

Zi Brick and Tile Industry International has reported on mineral waste and the possibilities for its application in the clay brick and roofing tile industry in twelve articles from issue Zi 1-2/2012...

more
Issue 01/2014

Mineral waste – valuable resources for the clay brick and tile industry

The European Union has established that we can no longer afford to consume resources on the scale we have done so far. Does that also apply to the resources for our clay bricks and tiles? The two of...

more
Issue 7-8/2013

Recycling: a challenge for the brick and tile industry

1 Introduction Over the past few months, the European institutions have published a spate of documents concerning this topic, most notably “The Roadmap to a Resource Efficient Europe”, in which it...

more
Issue 05/2012

Resource efficiency in the clay brick and tile industry – a brilliant contribution to securing the future supply of raw materials

In response to the global shortage of raw materials, the ­German government has issued a national resource efficiency programme. The extraction of raw materials is to be severely restricted....

more
Issue 8/2015

The Palaeozoic – new raw material sources for the clay brick and tile industry (Part I)

The Palaeozoic, the oldest of three geological eras, holds a host of new raw material sources for the clay brick and tile industry. The reason for this trend are increasing restrictions in the...

more