UKRI Interdisciplinary Circular Economy Centre For Mineral-based Construction Materials

2016年，英国用1.77亿吨原生骨料、1500万吨水泥和20亿块砖建造房屋、民用和商业建筑、公路和铁路等。与此同时，建筑和拆迁产生了6400万吨垃圾。来自建筑和拆除的材料主要通过降低循环来管理，由于能源密集型和污染的制造过程而失去了赋予它们的价值；例如，高价值的混凝土被分解成低价值的骨料。环境破坏与矿物基建筑材料的整个线性生命周期有关，包括从地球中提取矿物时对景观和栖息地的破坏；矿物和能源资源枯竭；在提取、加工、利用和拆除过程中，用水和向空气、土地和水中排放温室气体和其他污染物。重要的是现在就采取行动，在循环经济中将材料返回到资源循环中，并减少从地球上提取的数量，因为我们每年建造的数量都在增加。例如，英国计划在未来十年花费6000亿英镑建设基础设施。因此，UKRI国家矿物基建筑材料跨学科循环经济研究中心的目标是用更少的矿物基建筑材料做更多的事情，降低工业成本，减少浪费和污染，并使我们所依赖的自然环境受益。基于矿物的建筑材料有可能以更高的价值被重复使用和回收，例如，通过翻新而不是拆除，或者通过使用可重复使用的模块来建造，这些模块可以拆卸而不是拆除，因此所有用于制造它们的能量都不会浪费。也有可能用其他类型的矿物废物来代替天然矿物，例如挖掘和采石产生的7 600万吨废物，来自其他工业的1 400万吨矿物废物，或40亿吨历史采矿废物。我们也可以在使用矿物建筑材料方面更加节俭，通过设计材料、产品和结构来使用更少的初级原材料，使用寿命更长，适合重新利用而不是拆除，并使用新的制造技术。首先，我们的研究将试图更好地了解矿物基建筑材料在其生命周期的所有阶段（包括提取、加工、制造和报废）是如何在经济中流动的。该中心将努力支持国家统计局计划的国家材料数据库，该数据库将记录材料的使用方式、地点和时间以及产生浪费的时间，以便我们有信息来改进这一系统。我们还将研究我们在矿产使用方面可能做出的任何改变将如何影响环境和经济，例如温室气体排放、企业成本或就业。第二，我们将在矿质产品和结构的设计以及矿质建筑材料的所有生命周期阶段进行技术改进。第三，我们将研究当前商业模式和实践的变化如何支持使用较少矿物基的建筑材料，例如他们如何能够更快地转向新技术，或者他们如何使用数字技术来跟踪材料。我们将探索政府如何支持这些变化，以及我们如何提供教育，以便在这个系统中工作的每个人都知道他们需要做什么。在我们中心的前4年，15名博士后研究员将在大学工作20年，获得研究经验，然后与一个工业合作伙伴一起工作一年，实施他们的研究成果。20多名博士和30多名硕士研究生也将在该中心接受培训。

177 million tonnes of virgin aggregates, 15 million tonnes of cement and 2 billion bricks were used to build houses, civic and commercial buildings, roads and railways, etc, in the UK in 2016. Meanwhile, 64 million tonnes of waste arose from construction and demolition. Materials from construction and demolition are mainly managed by down-cycling with loss of the value imparted to them by energy-intensive and polluting manufacturing processes; for example, high value concrete is broken down into low value aggregate. Environmental damage is associated with the whole linear life cycles of mineral-based construction materials, and includes scarring of the landscape and habitat destruction when minerals are extracted from the earth; depletion of mineral and energy resources; and water use and emission of greenhouse gases and other pollutants to air, land and water, during extraction, processing, use and demolition. It is important to take action now, to return materials to the resource loop in a Circular Economy, and reduce the amount of extraction from the earth, as the amount we build increases each year. For example, the UK plans spend £600 billion to build infrastructure in the next decade. The UKRI National Interdisciplinary Circular Economy Research Centre for Mineral-based Construction Materials therefore aims to do more with less mineral-based construction materials, to reduce costs to industry, reduce waste and pollution, and benefit the natural environment that we depend on. There is potential for mineral-based construction materials to be reused and recycled at higher value, for example, by refurbishing rather than demolishing, or by building using reusable modules that can be taken apart rather than demolished, so all the energy that went into making them isn't wasted. It may also be possible to substitute minerals from natural sources by other types of mineral wastes, such as the 76 million tonnes of waste arising from excavation and quarrying, 14 million tonnes of mineral wastes that come from other industries, or 4 billion tonnes of historical mining wastes. We can also be more frugal in our use of mineral-based construction materials, by designing materials, products and structures to use less primary raw materials, last longer, and be suitable for repurposing rather than demolition, and using new manufacturing techniques. First, our research will try to better understand how mineral-based construction materials flow through the economy, over all the stages of their life cycle, including extraction, processing, manufacture, and end-of-life. The Centre will work to support the National Materials Database planned by the Office of National Statistics, which will capture how, where and when materials are used and waste arises, so that we have the information to improve this system. We will also study how any changes we might make to practices around minerals use would affect the environment and the economy, such as greenhouse gas emissions, costs to businesses, or jobs. Second, we will work on technical improvements that we can make in design of mineral-based products and structures, and in all the life-cycle stages of mineral-based construction materials. Third, we will look at how changes in current business models and practices could support use of less mineral-based construction materials, such as how they might be able to move more quickly to new technologies, or how they might use digital technologies to keep track of materials. We will explore how the government can support these changes, and how we can provide education so that everyone working in this system understands what they need to do. In the first 4 years of our Centre, 15 postdoctoral researchers will gain research experience working in the universities for 2y and will then work with an industrial collaborator for a year, to implement the results of their research. More than 20 PhD and 30 MSc students will also be trained in the Centre.