Sustainable energy efficiency requires a change of materials

TechnoCarbonTechnologies

The mining, processing and transportation of pressure stable materials – essential in civil, mechanical and industrial engineering, as well as infrastructure development in general – are a significant contribution to climate change. Metal and concrete are the most commonly used pressure stable materials in the construction and building sector, even though they are largely inefficient; with poor insulating properties, a lot of energy and heat is required to produce them. Worldwide climate change policies must identify these energy drains and assist in developing alternatives, since renewable energy sources will not be able to meet the energy requirements for existing pressure and tensile stable materials, while their mechanical properties are essential for industrial development.

This house wall element, 4 times lighter than a wall of concrete at the same thickness but 2 times better insulation and 2 times less of carbon footprint has been developed together with HTW-Chur and Ernst Basler+Partner (Zurich), measurements carried out at HTW-Chur with a load of 20 tonnes

Preloaded granite – economic and climate friendly

TechnoCarbonTechnologies GbR out of Munich has been developing alternative construction materials for a decade.

StoneCompositeTechnology (SCT®) is a new basic technology which makes stone a viable construction and building material. It provides better properties at lower weight and consumes less energy to produce than traditional pressure stable materials do.

Granite is widely available throughout the world, with 60% of the earth’s mantle consisting of solid rock. So transportation needs are minimal. Carbon fibres, as well as the resins, currently made of fossil fuels, can alternatively be made from vegetable oils. SCT® - technologies contribute significantly to the reduction of CO2 emissions, since they can be used as in civil construction, hydraulic engineering as well as shipbuilding, aircraft construction and mechanical engineering in general. Natural stone was a popular building material for thousands of years due to its lightweight and longevity. However it was eventually replaced by more resistant and flexible materials, which were more CO2 -intensive. SCT® applies the missing properties of strength and flexibility to stone. The mining and processing stages are easier and more environmentally friendly, with up to 20 times less earth shifted than with metals. This opens up a new economic-ecological approach.

CarbonFiberStone® (CFS®) – the most advanced, sustainable and prominent representative of SCT® developments – is a hybrid of natural granite stone simply cut from slabs and coated with carbon fibres. The fibres are force fit bonded with the help of modern high performance epoxy resin. This provides resistance against breakage and important flexibility, thanks to the compressibility of granite. Since granite is as light as aluminium (granite has a specific weight in the range of 2.6-2.9 g/cm3, aluminium is at 2.7 g/cm3) and as resistant as construction steel, CFS® can replace conventional building and construction materials while reducing weight and input energy needs.

A mono leaf spring for trucks having half the weight and half the carbon footprint of a steel spring

This sheet made of 4.2 mm natural stone, armed with carbon fibres on both sides, has the flexibility of steel at the weight of aluminium

Demonstration at the COP

CFS® will be the focus of TechnoCarbonTechnologies presentation at the COP 14 exhibition “Technologies For Climate Protection”.

CFS® combines extraordinary properties and new possibilities: high pressure resistance at comparably low weight, tensional strength, flexibility engineering, linear damping behaviour, minimal thermal expansion coefficient, high mechanical and chemical resistance and, very importantly, longevity. In combination with very good thermal insulation properties and low energy input requirements, CFS® is an outstanding alternative in technical and ecological terms to metallic and mineral construction materials. The TechnoCarbonTechnologies exhibition here at COP14 will showcase:

• a prefabricated house wall element, four times lighter than a comparable wall made of concrete with two times less of the carbon footprint and 2 times better insulation properties;

• a mono leaf spring for trucks with half the weight and half of the carbon footprint in comparison to its steel counterpart; and,

• a sheet of reinforced granite which can be bended in all directions, and which weighs the same as aluminium (2.8 times lighter than steel) and has the flexural strength of a sheet of construction steel

This material can be applied in almost any area, where CO2 -intensive materials are being used today in all building ranges, for example in earthquake-safe buildings, seawater resistant marine infrastructure and tidal power stations, machinery and tools, auto bodies for cars, trucks and trains, leaf springs, flexibility enhancements of air foils and rotor blades, and many others.

Fibre reinforced stone plates can be used as light and self-supporting house walls, providing unprecedented insulation and saving valuable space in comparison to those made of concrete. Full hulls of ships could be built at half the weight of their iron brothers. There are many possibilities that could further reduce the required energy input in the future, such as vegetable fibres. The possibilities are endless.

TechnoCarbonTechnologies can be found in the technology world exhibition at COP 14, hall 5, 1st floor and at booth of e5 in the regular exhibition area. Here you can learn more about the plans of establishing GCERM Foundation, the Global Centre for Efficiency of Resources and Materials, where the further development of StoneCompositeTechnology shall be driven on a worldwide basis.

W: www.technocarbon.com