Researchers at Newcastle University have developed the new mortar to tackle environmental issues as well as heating and cooling bills
The new environmentally friendly mortar is mixed using silica aerogel and recycled PET plastic instead of sand, both improving insulation and reducing plastic waste.
Aerogels have been shown to be effective in insulation and are increasingly being adopted within the built environment.
Heat loss is reduced by up to 55% by the environmentally friendly mortar
The mortar also maintains the required strength for masonry construction, meeting international standards BE-EN 413-1:2011, ASTM C270-10, and AS 1012/AS 3700.
It offers an energy-efficient and sustainable alternative for construction practices.
The testing saw seven different formulations of the environmentally friendly mortar tested with traditional mortar. The formulation with 7% untreated silica aerogels replacing the sand combined with 3% recycled polyethene terephthalate (PET) plastic was the most effective.
The PET particles used in the study were collected from plastic bottle waste, and were coarse and had irregular shapes ranging from 2.5-3.5mm in size. The pieces were washed before being shredded and dried for 24 hours.
Key properties were analysed including setting time, flowability, density, strength, and thermal conductivity.
The environmentally friendly mortar is now ready for testing in a larger scale real-world setting.
“Now it is possible to reach all British standards for this new reduced thermal heat mortar”
Study lead author, Kaniaw Marof, PhD researcher at the School of Engineering, said: “Improvement of the thermal performance of masonry buildings by reducing the energy required for heating and cooling in buildings to meet the users’ comfort it is one of the main topics considered in the modern construction sector. In our work, the modification of surface of the silica aerogel particles was a crucial step towards successfully implementing silica aerogel particles within the cement binder and PET plastic.”
Professor Lidija Šiller, professor of nanoscale science at Newcastle University’s School of Engineering and one of the study lead authors, said: “This study demonstrates that our formulation of recycled PET plastic waste can be used to produce cement-based mortars, and it is an effective way to reduce their impact on the environment. Wouldn’t be wonderful to reduce heating bills of all our new builds and at the same time significantly reduce plastic waste in the world?
“Now it is possible to reach all British standards for this new reduced thermal heat mortar with plastic and aerogels. For the next step, we wish to find collaborators such as a construction company to apply for funding and build the house with our ‘recipe’ for mortar. This will allow us to provide the direct evidence of potential energy savings and assess the economics for masonry buildings applications.”
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