Wednesday, October 29, 2008

Turning copper slag to sand

Oct 29, 2008

New plant will recycle used slag to make concrete.

By Jessica Cheam

SINGAPORE'S building industry is taking steps to green itself, with the opening on Wednesday of a new plant which will recycle used copper slag to make concrete.

The plant by Geocycle Singapore can process 360,000 tonnes of collected copper slag from local shipyards, which will be a substitute for sand in making ready-mixed concrete.

The Sungei Kadut facility will also function as a research and development centre for alternative and eco-friendly building materials.

It is a joint venture firm by cement maker Holcim Singapore and local recycling firm ecoWise, which have equal stakes.

[Okay. sounds like a good idea. Helps solve the sand shortage. BUT... isn't copper a good conductor of electricity, and isn't Singapore prone to heavy thunderstorms with lots of lightning strikes?

So houses built with copper-sand - can they do without lightning rods? What happens when the house is struck by lightning? Will the house become a "Faraday cage" and block phone signals?]

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