{"id":107230,"date":"2013-02-27T18:57:31","date_gmt":"2013-02-27T21:57:31","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/revistapesquisa.fapesp.br\/?p=107230"},"modified":"2017-03-06T15:10:41","modified_gmt":"2017-03-06T18:10:41","slug":"resistant-gypsum","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/revistapesquisa.fapesp.br\/en\/resistant-gypsum\/","title":{"rendered":"Resistant gypsum"},"content":{"rendered":"
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Eduardo Cesar<\/span>Phosphogypsum blocks are load-bearing and do not require concrete beams and pillars. They are laid onto small fittings.Eduardo Cesar<\/span><\/p><\/div>\n

A new option is now available for consumers, companies and governments with plans to build houses: the gypsum blocks designed in the laboratories of the S\u00e3o Carlos Institute of Physics at the University of S\u00e3o Paulo (IFSC-USP). The new construction blocks are expected to cut the building costs of low-cost housing by about one third and are made with a by-product from the manufacture of phosphoric acid, a raw material used in the production of agricultural fertilizers. This by-product, known as phosphogypsum or calcium sulfate, is also found naturally in mines.<\/p>\n

Designed for use in load-bearing walls as a substitute for conventional concrete and ceramic blocks, the material also features high mechanical strength. The USP Innovation Agency recently licensed the new blocks to three companies \u2013 Inovamat and KAJ, from S\u00e3o Carlos in S\u00e3o Paulo State, and Mega Block, from the city of Uberaba in Minas Gerais State \u2013, which are making the final tweaks and necessary adaptations to put them on the market.<\/p>\n

The high mechanical strength of the blocks is due to their specific microstructural characteristics. When phosphogypsum is hydrated \u2013 an essential stage when the blocks are manufactured \u2013, the crystals that form the material grow and become intertwined and compacted, making them more resistant to compression and bending. \u201cConventional blocks cannot withstand bending. With our blocks, we are able to use less steel when building, which helps lower the cost of construction,\u201d says Jo\u00e3o Ailton Brondino, a civil engineer and manager at KAJ.<\/p>\n

The low price of the raw materials required for laying the blocks also explains why they make for a lower cost option in building. \u201cEach block is laid in place with the help of a few small fittings, then affixed with the type of white glue that schoolchildren use. We don’t have to use cement,\u201d explains Milton Ferreira de Souza, professor emeritus at the S\u00e3o Carlos Institute of Physics and inventor of the calcium sulfate blocks. \u201cBecause the sides of the blocks are perfectly smooth, the construction process does not require mortar for laying and plastering. This saves money on masonry materials and labor.\u201d Phosphogypsum blocks are load-bearing, unlike the blocks used today, which depend on concrete beams and pillars for the walls to stay upright. Cement is only used in the sub-floor and slab. Once a wall has been built, the next step is painting, which can be done with conventional paints that are available on the market. Construction also requires less wood because there is no need to build molds for the beams and pillars, thus lowering the cost even further. Also, the modular nature of the blocks cuts the amount of waste to practically zero.<\/p>\n

Environmental solution<\/strong>
\nOne important distinction of the new material is its environmental appeal. Large amounts of phosphogypsum are left over during fertilizer production. Five metric tons of this type of gypsum, also known as agricultural gypsum, are produced for each metric ton of phosphoric acid (a component of fertilizer). Because it is a calcium-rich salt, phosphogypsum is used as a calcium source for agricultural soil. But this application is unable to absorb the large volume that is produced. \u201cAn estimated 160 million metric tons of phosphogypsum are currently lying in open-air landfills in Brazil. The large-scale manufacture of calcium sulfate blocks will provide an environmentally sound and economically interesting endpoint use for this material,\u201d says Brondino from KAJ, adding that the product is 100% recyclable. \u201cWe believe that companies that use this new technology will be able to earn carbon credits by using less cement and steel in their buildings,\u201d Brondino affirms.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe have seen a high level of interest in the product, both on the part of construction companies and of end consumers,\u201d says Eduardo Brito, administrative analyst at the USP Innovation Agency in S\u00e3o Carlos, in S\u00e3o Paulo State. \u201cDuring the August 2012 Innovation and Entrepreneurship Convention [USP-iTec] organized by the university in S\u00e3o Paulo, which brought together more than 10,000 people, the blocks caught the public’s eye.\u201d Four patents related to the phosphogypsum blocks and their manufacturing process have been filed with the Brazilian Industrial Property Institute (INPI). Licensed companies agree to pay 3% of their net revenues from using these patents. \u201cOf the total amount earned through any commercial use, USP will receive 70% and FAPESP will get 30%,\u201d says Brito.<\/p>\n

Three prototype buildings \u2013 one amphitheater and two houses, measuring 60 m2 <\/sup>and 56 m2<\/sup>, respectively \u2013 have already been built by licensed companies in S\u00e3o Carlos using the new blocks. The outcome was good, but this type of construction project can only become eligible for funding from banks and the Federal Savings Bank after the new phosphogypsum blocks receive technical approval and the ensuing certification from the Institute for Technological Research (IPT) or from the Falc\u00e3o Bauer Technological Center. Brondino estimates that he will be able to start selling the blocks to end consumers by the end of the first half of 2013.<\/p>\n

\u201cBecause it is an innovative product, there were no machines on the market that could produce parts from calcium sulfate with high mechanical strength. Our first challenge was to design this equipment. We adapted a commercially available device and now the company has mastered the process for designing the necessary equipment to produce calcium sulfate blocks and boards on a commercial scale, reproducing the parts with the strengths observed in the laboratory,\u201d Brondino says. \u201cOur goal is to use the blocks to build multi-story structures, as well as one-story houses, especially ones that could be used to reduce the housing deficit in the country. We estimate that the average savings per built-up square meter will be upwards of 30%.\u201d<\/p>\n

Project<\/strong>
\nNovogesso (n\u00ba 2004\/02900-0<\/a>).\u00a0 Grant mechanism<\/strong>\u00a0Innovative Research in Small Businesses Program (Pipe) Coordinator<\/strong>\u00a0Milton Ferreira de Souza. Investment<\/strong>\u00a0R$ 450,370.00 (FAPESP).<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Blocks made from from fertilizer by-products are low-cost building option","protected":false},"author":23,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_exactmetrics_skip_tracking":false,"_exactmetrics_sitenote_active":false,"_exactmetrics_sitenote_note":"","_exactmetrics_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1560,169],"tags":[225,228,262],"coauthors":[116],"class_list":["post-107230","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-innovative-research-in-small-business-pipe-en","category-technology","tag-economy","tag-engineering","tag-sustainability"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/revistapesquisa.fapesp.br\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/107230","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/revistapesquisa.fapesp.br\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/revistapesquisa.fapesp.br\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/revistapesquisa.fapesp.br\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/23"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/revistapesquisa.fapesp.br\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=107230"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/revistapesquisa.fapesp.br\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/107230\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/revistapesquisa.fapesp.br\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=107230"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/revistapesquisa.fapesp.br\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=107230"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/revistapesquisa.fapesp.br\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=107230"},{"taxonomy":"author","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/revistapesquisa.fapesp.br\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/coauthors?post=107230"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}