Material solution for sustainable and affordable housing

Project Information

OXA

Grant agreement ID: 889079

DOI

10.3030/889079

Project closed

EC signature date 4 December 2019

Start date 1 January 2020

End date 30 April 2020

Funded under

• INDUSTRIAL LEADERSHIP - Innovation In SMEs

Total cost

€ 71 429,00

EU contribution

€ 50 000,00

Coordinated by

OXARA
Switzerland

Periodic Reporting for period 1 - OXA (Material solution for sustainable and affordable housing)

Reporting period: 2020-01-01 to 2020-04-30

Summary of the context and overall objectives of the project

Construction industry consumes one third of global energy demand, delivers 30% global CO2 emissions and generates vast quantities of material waste. Concrete is the single most widely used construction material in the world and its key ingredient is cement, whose manufacturing contributes to 7% of global CO2 emissions. Additionally, the concrete industry is the greatest consumer of aggregates and its extraction from river and sea coasts deeply affects the composition of biodiversity. Another highly popular material for construction are clay bricks, whose manufacturing is also highly energy intensive. Oxara’s innovative Oxacrete© and Oxabrick© additives promote stablish a circular economy in the construction industry that contributes to sustainable and affordable housing. Due to the recycling excavation waste, Oxara’s Cleancrete© is 29% cheaper and 90% more sustainable than conventional concrete while Cleanbrick© is 17% cheaper and 71-85% more sustainable than conventional bricks.

Work performed from the beginning of the project to the end of the period covered by the report and main results achieved so far

At the technical level, we worked on defining the main needs to optimize, adapt, validate and certificate our additives, and we listed the main technical risks. In base on the pending objectives and desired milestones, we defined a workplan to be executed during the EIC project. At the commercial level, we searched and identified many potential users, studied the different markets, compare our innovative construction material with main technologies and competitors and describe the expected commercial risks. Besides, we proposed our commercial strategy and completed an FTO study. Financially, we estimated the budget to reach commercialization, performed a cost-benefit analysis for Oxara and its customers, and finally we made financial projections for the 5 years after market launch.

Progress beyond the state of the art and expected potential impact (including the socio-economic impact and the wider societal implications of the project so far)

Oxara will mainly contribute to the transition to sustainable cities and communities, the responsible consumption and production and the climate action as a result of the implementation of the effective circular economy system which avoids the accumulation of waste, the pollution of the environment, the overexploitation of natural resources, the retreat of beaches and disappearance of islands, the loss of biodiversity and the emission of greenhouse gasses. Furthermore, as the use of Oxara’s additives can leverage the large amounts of construction and demolition waste to produce Cleancrete© and Cleanbrick©, these construction materials are cheaper to allow people access to decent affordable homes.

Oxara enables circular economy in the construction industry