ERT for Construction (ERT4C) is working on behalf of Environmental Recycling Technologies (ERT) .
ERT4C is a new Consultancy organisation which aims to facilitate links
between Industry, Academia and other stakeholders to help transfer the ERT composite technology to the construction industry in the UK and in Europe.

In recent months there have been visits to the manufacturing facility
from many commercial bodies as well as University representatives from
Bradford, Brunel, Loughborough, Manchester, Oxford Brookes and the University
of Wales. Currently both Brunel University and the University of Wales are involved
with PIM technology Resarch and Development Projects. It is anticipated
that the number of research projects will increase significantly once
expected research funding streams are made available.

At this early stage in the Company’s development it is felt that
an appropriate business model is to work with established players in the
market. ERT will help develop new products, primarily as alternatives
to existing products. For example ERT is currently working with Bovis
Lend Lease and Land Securities to develop flat sheet for use as an aletrnative
to plywood in hoardings and shuttering. ERT will hire out its production
line for mass production until such time as development of a new line
is justified. Remember the UK construction market is huge and accounts
for almost 10% of GDP.

Initial fire tests on PIM flat sheet have been very promising. The
sheet does not ignite but will eventually melt at temperatures above
300 centigarde. It is felt that in general terms fire protection for
most Plastic (i.e. ERT related products) can be achieved by specifying
an appropriate mix of specific polymers that contain fire retardant
properties.

It is perceived that plastic is already a viable building component. There are already real examples to be found from plastic kerbs to plastic bridges. In fact the first UK plastic composite bridge was built in Oxfordshire.

Essentially ERT has invented a new process (Powder Impression Moulding or PIM)
not new materials. The new PIM process allows much more versatile and
economic factory production than has hitherto been the case.

Many people will have already heard about Powder Injection Moulding.
Many plastic moulded products such as car bumpers are usually moulded
at pressures of several atmospheres using the Powder Injection Moulding
process. However Powder Impression Moulding
is a new development about which few will have heard (a basic internet
search on the two phrases will demonstrate this point). The advantage
of Powder Impression Moulding is that it operates at essentially
atmospheric pressure and hence needs much less capital expenditure than
that associated with the existing injection moulding technology. There
are many other advantages of the new PIM process.

ERT will hire out its production line for mass production - see Photographs. ERT is currently working with various different parties
and products to trial this production line. For example ERT recently commenced
production of flat sheet for use as an alternative to plywood in hoardings
and shuttering by Bovis Lend Lease.

The process effectively has unlimited size potential and as with similar
productiuon technologies the size limitations are imposed by other aspects
such as transportation of product to market. The alpha line at Bedwas is designed for products up to 2.2m x 2.4m x
200mm thick. Thus one mould for sheet material is currently producing
sheets 2 of 2.4m x 1.0m x 19mm thick and 1 of 2.4m x 0.15m x 19mm thick.
The permuations within the overall 2.2m x 2.4m x 200mm limit are endless.
This line lends itself to mass production of products such as flat sheet,
hoarding, trench supports, floor / wall panels and even scaffold boards.

The
process itself is capable of producing much larger products but this
will be dependent upon the design of a new line(s). In fact the Deep Draw Project is currently developing technology for larger products such as water tanks.

It all depends upon the specification of the product being
manufactured, the weight of the product and the required consistency of
the core foam, but can include all polymer families in a co-mingled
state, including high melt temperature materials.

If domestic plastic waste was made up of varying percentages of a fairly
predictable suite of polymers. And this blend just for instance was always
between 0 - 66% of Polyethylene (various grades), 0 - 66% Polypropylene
(various grades) and 0 - 66% PET (Polyethylene Terethphalate), 0 - 10%
Other polymers e.g. Nylons, acrylamides etc. This definition obviously
allows for considerable batch to batch variation in the "waste"
and these are purely invented numbers. For typical products, good results
are obtained with a majority percentage of "olefinic" (LDPE,
HDPE or PP) in the core. This blend of materials can usually consist of
co-mingled post consumer waste, blended with other recycled PE materials,
such as used agricultural film, post industrial use PE, pulverised polymer
material from WEEE recycling and/or Virgin material. These materials can
also include non-polymer contamination such as paper. We have to blend
post-use recycled materials from several sources to obtain consistent
batches for optimal consistency, but there are product opportunities that
can use over 90% co-mingled plastic waste. The first trials of eco-sheet
have used over 75% waste electrical (WEEE) material with considerable
success.

Does this process tolerate additional (to those already in waste plastics)
fibre reinforcement materials, or other inert filler materials and if
so what impact, if any, would including them have on the preparation and
processing of the "powder"? Short fibres actually benefit the
performance of products being manufactured. Long fibres can cause issues
in delivery into the mould, but can be size reduced prior to delivery
into the PIM mould.

COBRAE stands for the Composites Bridge Alliance Europe. COBRAE states
that its mission is to promote the research, development,
standardisation and application of fibre reinforced polymer composites
in rehabilitation, upgrade and new build bridge constructions and
infrastructure applications. Further information is at the COBRAE web site which show just how fast alternative technologies to traditional steel and concrete are developing.