China will build the world's first brick and tile factory to use an Australian green technology that recycles an industrial pollutant into high-strength, lightweight building products. To be built on a 300-acre site next to a fly ash dumping site by a Sino-Australian consortium, and located in the northern Henan province city of Hebi, the factory will source the fly ash industrial pollutant from an adjacent coal-fired power station.

To be opened within two years and expanded over five years, the factory will produce 500 million bricks, 50 million pavers, and 25 million square metres of ceramic products annually. Vecor Building Systems, with the full support of the Hebi Government, is seeking funding support for the project from the Chinese Government and the Clean Development Mechanism under the UN's Framework Convention for Climate Change. Funding for green energy infrastructure projects such as this one have been given top ranking under the Chinese Government's recently announced $US586 billion stimulus package.

The announcement follows successful trialling of the technology in Hebi at a fly ash pilot plant that opened earlier this year in a special zone set aside for large-scale industrial recycling technologies. The frame agreement between Vecor Building Systems and the Hebi Government means that fly ash waste from the local power station will now be used to make bricks and tiles in the new factory.

Fly ash is an unavoidable by-product of burning coal to produce electricity. An environmental pollutant, the fine grey powdery residue is typically dumped in nearby lakes or disused mine shafts to avoid its unsightly and contaminating effects. The world produces an estimated 800 million tonnes of fly ash annually and much is sent to waste disposal sites on increasingly scarce land, producing serious air and water pollution.

"This project ticks all the boxes," says Vecor's chief executive, Alex Koszo. "It will rid the local environment of an industrial pollutant and turn it into building products that are lighter, stronger and greener than today's equivalent building materials. There is growing interest in China in reducing greenhouse gases, chemical pollutants, dust emissions, and stopping the alienation of the land. This technology addresses many of these problems."

Australian material scientists Dr Obada Kayali and Mr Karl Shaw of the University of New South Wales pioneered the technology. It effectively "locks up" fly ash to produce strong, lightweight bricks and aggregate. The new bricks are 28 per cent lighter and 24 per cent stronger than comparable clay bricks, while the aggregate can be used to make concrete that is 25 per cent lighter and 20 per cent stronger than products made from quarried aggregates and mined sand.

These characteristics are expected to translate into lower construction costs and less greenhouse emissions because of lighter structures that require smaller foundations, cheaper transportation, and with less use of cement and steel required for reinforcement. The new bricks generate fewer emissions than standard clay bricks during manufacture because they take less heating time in a brick kiln.

"These building products address the enormous burden that construction places on the global environment," says Neil Simpson of NewSouth Innovations. "Cement and concrete account for 10 to 12 percent of the world's greenhouse gas emissions. This is significant in a country such as China, which builds the equivalent of a New York-sized city every year."

In September, Vecor Building Systems signed a multimillion-dollar deal with NewSouth Innovations Pty Ltd granting the building materials company exclusive global rights to commercialise the fly ash technology. NewSouth Innovations Pty Limited (NSi) provides technology transfer services to the University of New South Wales. The company has significant commercialisation experience and expertise and is a recognised leader in the commercialisation of research-based technologies.

Youtube - Flash Ash: a green building solution

Media contacts
Dan Gaffney, NewSouth Innovations, 0411 156 015 headlines.news@gmail.com
Siegfried Konig, Vecor, 0411 111 193