Tailing Tile
OK, after a short nap, my mood has improved and I'm not quite as downbeat as I was earlier this morning. While I still doubt that Americans are all that exceptional, reading this article in today's Sacramento Bee does remind me that with a little creative thinking, some of our environmental problems can be mitigated. In this case, it has to do with finding a commercial use for mine tailings.
Investors and big business have put their money behind green energy, green autos and green lighting, but they aren't biting yet on "green" tile.
That's the product a company in this well-forested mountain township is pitching -- what it described as a high-quality product manufactured from waste materials that come out of mines, gravel quarries, coal-fired power plants, and even leftovers from cat litter production.
Ceramics engineer Carl Frahme and others at Golden Bear Ceramics hope to tap into the building industry's demand for products made out of recycled materials and consumers' desire to purchase environmentally friendly products. ...
Frahme said he expects a ready supply of raw material for his tiles from mining companies that would otherwise have to store or dispose of the waste. ...
Golden Bear's process involves heating the finely ground quarry leftovers or mine tailings to similar temperatures until they become almost plastic in consistency and then injecting them into a form -- a process called vacuum extrusion. ...
Of course, the green designation is all relative. While Golden Bear's tile is made from waste material, it still will use large amounts of natural gas for its high-temperature process.
Frahme argues that tile production requires less energy per pound than glass, steel and plastic.
And he said Golden Bear's "carbon footprint" is still smaller than that made by traditional ceramics manufacturers in Italy, Mexico, Spain and Brazil, the nations that supply most of the ceramic tile used in the United States.
While this certainly is an interesting development, Golden Bear has a couple of other obstacles to overcome before people will be convinced that this is such a great idea, although Mr. Frahme is certainly doing a pretty good job of rebutting the arguments raised thus far.
First, mine tailings often contain known carcinogens or other hazardous materials. Mr. Frahme and his colleagues claim that they can make the tiles from materials approved by Cal-OSHA, the California state agency.
Second, these particular tiles depend on mines for the raw materials, and mining is a process that is incredibly destructive to the environment in other ways than the tailings that are left behind. It wouldn't be hard to imagine a mining company using Golden Bear as a "green" excuse for their process. Still, if the mine is approved by the appropriate regulatory bodies, it's nice to have a way to mitigate at least one of destructive factors.
On balance, this looks like a nifty idea, especially since the tiles that are pictured in the article are quite lovely. We need more ideas like the ones the engineers at Golden Bear have come up with.
Investors and big business have put their money behind green energy, green autos and green lighting, but they aren't biting yet on "green" tile.
That's the product a company in this well-forested mountain township is pitching -- what it described as a high-quality product manufactured from waste materials that come out of mines, gravel quarries, coal-fired power plants, and even leftovers from cat litter production.
Ceramics engineer Carl Frahme and others at Golden Bear Ceramics hope to tap into the building industry's demand for products made out of recycled materials and consumers' desire to purchase environmentally friendly products. ...
Frahme said he expects a ready supply of raw material for his tiles from mining companies that would otherwise have to store or dispose of the waste. ...
Golden Bear's process involves heating the finely ground quarry leftovers or mine tailings to similar temperatures until they become almost plastic in consistency and then injecting them into a form -- a process called vacuum extrusion. ...
Of course, the green designation is all relative. While Golden Bear's tile is made from waste material, it still will use large amounts of natural gas for its high-temperature process.
Frahme argues that tile production requires less energy per pound than glass, steel and plastic.
And he said Golden Bear's "carbon footprint" is still smaller than that made by traditional ceramics manufacturers in Italy, Mexico, Spain and Brazil, the nations that supply most of the ceramic tile used in the United States.
While this certainly is an interesting development, Golden Bear has a couple of other obstacles to overcome before people will be convinced that this is such a great idea, although Mr. Frahme is certainly doing a pretty good job of rebutting the arguments raised thus far.
First, mine tailings often contain known carcinogens or other hazardous materials. Mr. Frahme and his colleagues claim that they can make the tiles from materials approved by Cal-OSHA, the California state agency.
Second, these particular tiles depend on mines for the raw materials, and mining is a process that is incredibly destructive to the environment in other ways than the tailings that are left behind. It wouldn't be hard to imagine a mining company using Golden Bear as a "green" excuse for their process. Still, if the mine is approved by the appropriate regulatory bodies, it's nice to have a way to mitigate at least one of destructive factors.
On balance, this looks like a nifty idea, especially since the tiles that are pictured in the article are quite lovely. We need more ideas like the ones the engineers at Golden Bear have come up with.
Labels: The Environment
posted by Diane at 12:31 PM
0 Comments:
Post a Comment
<< Home