TITLE:
Mineral wool waste back to loop with advanced sorting, pre-treatment, and alkali activation
DESCRIPTION:
The circular economy project WOOL2LOOP (Mineral wool waste back to loop with advanced sorting, pre-treatment, and alkali activation) has received significant funding from the EU Horizon 2020 (Horizon 2020) funding programme. The total budget for the project is EUR 6.7 million, of which EU funding amounts to EUR 5.3 million. The three-year project started on 1st of June, 2019. WOOL2LOOP is Europe's first EU innovation project that focuses exclusively on the recovery of mineral wool waste from the construction industry. In addition, the project is the first in the world aiming to commercialize mineral wool geopolymer.
The project aims at converting mineral wool from construction and demolition waste into new materials. In the project, mineral wool waste is recovered through geopolymer technology. Mineral wool geopolymer provides cement substitute raw material for new construction products. In addition, the project focuses on demolition process, sorting, analysing and processing of mineral wool waste. In Europe, about 2.5 million tons of mineral wool waste is generated each year in construction and demolition. At present, mineral wool waste is almost completely landfilled, resulting in an annual cost of around EUR 250 million for the construction sector. By producing new building products by geopolymerization from mineral wool waste, it is possible to replace the virgin raw materials used in construction and significantly reduce the carbon footprint of building materials production and construction industry.The WOOL2LOOP project aims not only to reduce landfill waste from construction and demolition, but also to save non-renewable resources used in production of stone and cement-based construction products. The project explores the use of mineral wool-based geopolymers as a raw material in, for example, mortars, facade panels, yard slabs, acoustic boards and 3D printable building material.
The project involves a total of 15 companies and research institutes, as well as extensive pilots and demonstrations across Europe. The project includes the world's largest construction material producers and innovative start-up companies in the field of circular economy. The project is coordinated by Saint-Gobain Finland Oy, a construction product manufacturer from Finland. The scientific coordinator of the project is University of Oulu. From Slovenia, partners of the project are Termit d.d., Zavod 404 and Slovenian National Building and Civil Engineering Institute (ZAG).
The project aims at converting mineral wool from construction and demolition waste into new materials. In the project, mineral wool waste is recovered through geopolymer technology. Mineral wool geopolymer provides cement substitute raw material for new construction products. In addition, the project focuses on demolition process, sorting, analysing and processing of mineral wool waste. In Europe, about 2.5 million tons of mineral wool waste is generated each year in construction and demolition. At present, mineral wool waste is almost completely landfilled, resulting in an annual cost of around EUR 250 million for the construction sector. By producing new building products by geopolymerization from mineral wool waste, it is possible to replace the virgin raw materials used in construction and significantly reduce the carbon footprint of building materials production and construction industry.The WOOL2LOOP project aims not only to reduce landfill waste from construction and demolition, but also to save non-renewable resources used in production of stone and cement-based construction products. The project explores the use of mineral wool-based geopolymers as a raw material in, for example, mortars, facade panels, yard slabs, acoustic boards and 3D printable building material.
The project involves a total of 15 companies and research institutes, as well as extensive pilots and demonstrations across Europe. The project includes the world's largest construction material producers and innovative start-up companies in the field of circular economy. The project is coordinated by Saint-Gobain Finland Oy, a construction product manufacturer from Finland. The scientific coordinator of the project is University of Oulu. From Slovenia, partners of the project are Termit d.d., Zavod 404 and Slovenian National Building and Civil Engineering Institute (ZAG).
DURATION:
2019/06/01 - 2022/05/31
FUNDING:
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