They Create Bricks Based On Plastic Material In Santander
In 2015, the United Nations Organization raised 17 sustainable development goals to help the planet and save it from global warming. From that date to the present, several alternatives have been known, ranging from the installation of more solar panels to the creation of devices based on recyclable materials.
One of these alternatives is being carried out in Santander. With the purpose of developing an energy-efficient and sustainable material for the construction sector, César Iván Gómez Ospino, student of Civil Engineering at the Industrial University of Santander (UDES), and Heidy Catalina León Gómez, project manager of the Engineering program Civil of the UDES, they created a prototype of a brick made of plastic material.
The researchers focused on the construction sector and the elimination of non-renewable materials in the poorest areas of Santander.
"We began to investigate a new way of giving life to this material that abounds in the streets and we found that in the construction sector it would be something feasible since it would improve the quality of life of people," he told El Espectador Gómez Ospino.
"It was born as a social and environmental initiative. We decided to work with energy resources and mitigate CO2 pollution. Then, we discovered that brick is an element that is used a lot in construction and generated a large amount of CO2 emissions, "Heidy Catalina Leon Gómez, professor, told this newspaper.
Based on the fact that conventional bricks are made of cement and clay, the researchers decided to focus on the construction of this material in another way to make it accessible to people and friendly to the environment.
The brick is made with type 1 plastic waste (plastic bags, food packaging and plastic bottles). The procedure begins with the collection of the waste that is then cleaned and dried to decontaminate it. Then, "the material is crushed by a granulometric screening, it is introduced in a forge at 400 and 500 degrees where it is molded and pressed by a thermal vaporization specified in the parameters that regulate the current technical regulations", explained Gómez Ospino.
The idea of the project is to take advantage of all the waste to reuse them and reduce the emissions of carbon dioxide (CO2), the main gas causing global warming. For example, the researchers stated that the production of the element was reduced by 50%, a normal brick costs $ 800. Likewise, CO2 emissions decreased.
Another differentiating point of this material is that you can choose the mold, smell and color according to its use. "A brick can weigh 2,200 grams and ours, with the same specification, has a weight of 928 grams, approximately a reduction of 152%. We are doing resistance tests and almost duplicates the conventional one, "said the director of the UDES Energy Resources Research Seedbed.
This is the first phase of the project. In the second stage the researchers want to focus on the durability of the material because it is a factor that they do not know.
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