Latest advances of the LIFE ECO-SANDFILL Project are presented to the European Commission

The target of the LIFE ECO-SANDFILL Project is to valorize spent foundry sand into high added-value applications for the foundry industry and into construction applications. The end of the Project is scheduled for June 2019.

Representatives from EASME, the European Commission Executive Agency for the Small and Medium-sized Enterprises, have recently been informed about the advances and the results obtained within the LIFE ECO-SANDFILL project during a two-days visit to Beasain and Durango.

During the first day, the project Consortium showed the Commission delegates the prototype built for the valorization of spent foundry sands. The equipment, located in the facilities of FUNDICIONES del ESTANDA S.A., is an attrition regenerator that allows to adjust diverse operation parameters to optimize the end characteristics of the valorized sands.

During the project, the steel foundry has valorized nearly 600 t of spent sand, which have been used to make sand molds for their own foundry process. During the visit, trials were performed to show the real operation of the prototype, supervising as well several steel castings manufactured with the valorized sand.

The second working day took place at the IK4-AZTERLAN Metallurgy Research Centre, where the construction civil work of the new Technology Centre facilities were visited. These new facilities count with two mortar applications were valorized foundry sands have been used. One of them is related to radiant floor applications for a climatization installation based in geothermal energy.

The LIFE ECO-SANDFILL project aims at valorizing spent foundry sands as a secondary fine arid for diverse construction applications and for high added-value applications within the own foundry processes. It is partly financed by LIFE 2015 program, the financial instrument of the European Union to support Environment and Climate Action, under the priority area “Environment and Efficient Use of Resources” (gran agreement Nº LIFE15 ENV/ES/000612).

The project is led by IK4-AZTERLAN and participated by the companies FUNDICIONES del ESTANDA S.A., ONDARLAN S.L. and ACCIONA, as well as the GAIKER technology Centre.

Left, European Commission representatives meet the prototype for foundry sands’ valorisation and get information about the production process of FUNDICIONES DEL ESTANDA. Right, consortium members and European delegates visit the contruction works of the new facilities of the IK4-AZTERLAN Technology Centre.