The LIFE ECO-SANDFILL project led by AZTERLAN Metallurgy Research Centre has been recognized after succesfully demonstrating the viability of spent foundry sand as substitute of virgin sand in different construction applications.
The United Nations Environment Program (UNEP) has recently published the report 2022 Sand and Sustainability: 10 strategic recommendations to avert a crisis that remarks the “strategic role sand plays in delivering ecosystem services, maintaining biodiversity, supporting economic development, and providing livelihoods within communities” and shares some recommendations, along with possitive case studies to improve the use of this important natural resource, which is the “most used solid material” worldwide.
In this context, LIFE ECO-SANDFILL project, led by AZTERLAN and participated by Fundiciones del Estanda S.A., Ondarlan S.L., Acciona Construcción, S.A. and Fundación Gaiker, is mentioned in the report as a Case Study within the recommendation 3: “Enable a paradigm shift to a regenerative and circular future”.
LIFE ECO-SANDFILL project demonstrated the technical, economic and environmental feasibility of using reclaimed Spent Foundry Sand (SFS) as a fine aggregate in construction applications. For that purpose, a sand reclamation system demonstrator was built for properly pre-processing the sand through innovative mechanical treatments. The project was co-financed by the LIFE Program, the financial instrument for the Environment and Climate Action of the Eropean Union under grant ageement LIFE15 ENV/ES/000612.
See the whole UN Environment Program’s “2022 Sand and Sustainability” report here.
SEM of mechanically treated SFS (left) and the sand reclaimation demonstrator installed at Ondarlan S.L.
