New fire protection products

Re-use of mining waste for new fire protection products

The implementation of a circular economy model in the European Union requires a high level of commitment from businesses to create collaborative and business-to-business solutions that drive eco-innovation. IDEAL is a European project in which nine different partners (universities, manufacturers, research centres, etc.) have joined forces to develop a high-performance material based on the use of mining slag and thereby promoting the circular economy.

This approach opens up new horizons for the extractive and processing industries in the raw material sector, in terms of minimising landfill and recovering waste into value-added products. In turn, the construction sector can source more sustainable materials, optimising the life cycle of its products and reducing the impact on the environment. This fosters the creation of synergies in the value chains of the different sectors by promoting eco-innovation.

Transformation of waste into products

The project aims to transform waste into fire protection products. This type of material is suitable for diverse uses and sectors, such as tunnels, cladding, protection of concrete structures or installations.

The products created by moulding and 3D printing have been validated in TECNALIA's laboratories. The fire resistance properties of the innovative products have been validated by means of tests carried out in TECNALIA's Fire Safety Laboratory, as well as in-situ tests carried out on demonstrators installed in a real environment, in this case in a tunnel in Greece.

TECNALIA is working on the dissemination of the results through the preparation of scientific articles.

The IDEAL project is funded by EIT RawMaterials (EIT RM) under the European Union's Horizon 2020 Framework Programme for Research and Innovation.

Further information