Paper, Ash and Resin: Valorisation of Foundation Industry Waste Streams

Making paper, manufacturing ceramics and metals, producing ethanol and generating energy produces millions of tonnes of by-products waste a year (some 12 Million Tonnes in total).

Industry has worked hard to deal with these waste streams (e.g adding ash to cement, using distillers and sugar processing residues as animal feeds, or paper waste to burn in power stations) but a substantial portion of this material still goes to landfill.

But what if we could use these wastes to make more expensive or better products?

Better use of these wastes could replace the use of scarce or expensive virgin resources, reduce our carbon footprint and improve the environment of the UK.

One of the biggest barriers to more effective use of waste resources is cost. The cost is often linked to the technology needed to transform waste streams into useful materials.

High process and technology cost leads to a failure of innovative change and the maintenance of existing environmentally damaging and high carbon manufacturing processes.

Sappi and Cambond have developed different approaches to dealing with waste streams and transforming them into valuable products at a sensible price. The Biocomposites Centre has expertise in measuring the environmental and sustainability advantages of different materials to ensure the most planet friendly approaches can be chosen.

Our project brings together innovative UK technology and expertise to focus them in a robust plan to drive the commercial development of a new low carbon materials technology which up-cycles waste streams and could provide a significant development in materials manufacturing in the UK.

Paper mill wastes, fly ash and resins can be combined to provide a range of materials for the construction and ceramics sectors in the UK. These materials offer commercially attractive opportunities to develop and manufacture _improved_, low carbon, sustainable, products:

Fire resistant boards for construction

Decorative panels and tiles with ceramic-type finishes

Ceramic type materials which can be moulded into many types of product

We will turn environmental problems into valuable commercial opportunities producing large reductions in the carbon footprint of UK manufacturing and a materials technology which embodies circular economy principles

This project uses waste from several foundation industries to produce an innovative manufacturing platform to enhance UK productivity and competitiveness. Innovation in the use of multiple waste streams will be commercially competitive and help meet one of the Grand Challenges -- Clean Growth.