The project aims at the development, production, and demonstration of light weight, fire resistant components for the construction industry. Industrial residues will be valorised and via geopolymerization turned into fire resistant materials. The waste envisioned is ‘bauxite residue (or red mud)’, bricks and tiles from construction and demolishing waste, and fly ash from biomass incineration. Today, these wastes are orlandfilled, or downcycled. In this project, the different waste streams will be combined in the right proportions, after physico-chemical pre-treatment. This mixture is then molten and quenched as a kind of slag. The result is a good precursor for geopolymers (or alkali activated cements). The blending ensures the constant composition and quality of the precursor.

As such a new value chain/business model will be developed for the demolishing/construction business. For a successful continuation after the project, this value chain will be studied in detail. To allow the production of complex shapes, a fire-resistant paste for 3D printing of objects will be developed. The final application envisaged in this project will be insulating panels. The panels can be used as non-flammable insulating material for buildings or for concrete protection in tunnels. The technology is currently at a TRL of 4 and will be raised towards 8. As the slag produced has a very constant quality, it will also be a valuable precursor for other high-end applications, like a dry repair concrete or for the matrix of textile reinforced cements.

A novel high Light Reflectance Value (LRV) photocatalytic paint will be applied as a surface coating on the fire-resistant component to enhance the fire safety and to act as air cleaning agent (oxidizing pollutants). The photocatalytic paint can also work in a tunnel, where the panels could be used to protect the concrete structure. A demonstration about the fire resistance will be performed on real scale.