October 14, 2021 On 21/10/2021, the industrial board of the Ghrante project will meet for the last time at the Flamac facility. During the meeting we will provide the summary of results and achievements obtained on our four years journey as well as, we will present the medium to large scale samples developed within the Ghrante project.
October 1, 2021 Roberto Murillo Alarcon submitted a research paper on ” Influence of the hydrothermal curing conditions and slag chemistry” to the a reputable journal of Cement and Concrete Research.
September 6, 2021 Roberto Murillo Alarcon, the KU Leuven PhD student working in the Ghrante project, spoke about his work in presentation entitled “Porous materials from Fe-rich slags: Challenges and best practices”. see more
April 29, 2021 PhD students working in Ghrante project presented their studies conducted within the frame of Ghrante project at the 7th International Slag Valorisation Symposium. Jorn van De Sande participated with a paper about “Fire-resistant inorganic polymer foams made from Fe-rich slags” and Roberto Murillo Alarcon with his work on “Porous inorganic polymers from Fe-rich slags by mechanical foaming” as well as another work about “Fe-rich slag-based porous inorganic polymers: Can hydrothermal curing enhance the properties?” see more
April 1, 2021 Mix design developed for road application in Ghrante project were subjected to several tests to investigate their abrasion resistance, adhesion to concrete and scaling resistance. The developed materials passed all the requested tests and thus are suitable for use in road applications.
November 20, 2020 Industrial board of Ghrante project is meeting for the third time in a Virtual Zoom meeting on 20/11/2020 at 2 pm. The industrial partners get a chance to follow up the progress of the project. To participate in the online discussion and to see what is happening “Beyond the Ghrante project”.
April 9, 2020 A partner of the Ghrante project managed to successfully 3D print a mold that can be use to cast various NGCS road profiles. Ghrante project is one step closer to develop a new generation concrete road with a high initial noise reduction. see more
March 1, 2020 Jorn Van De Sande, the PhD student of the Ghrante project, investigated the reactivity of various non-ferrous metallurgy slags and identified the most suitable slag composition for synthesis of inorganic polymers. His work entitled: “Upcycling of non-ferrous metallurgy slag: Identifying the most reactive slag for inorganic polymer construction materials” was published in the Journal of Resources, Conservation and Recycling. read more
January 7, 2020 The high-throughput sample production campaign for inorganic polymers was launched. In the current configuration Flamac is able to produce 15 different mix-designs a day, corresponding to about 180 samples.
October 17, 2019 KU Leuven and VUB attended a full day hands-on training given by Flamac. The training was focused on the understanding of the high-throughput screening method. A guided tour through the Flamac laboratories was accompanied by in-detailed and precise explanation of possibilities and necessities of each process step. Eventually, the production of hybrid binder samples was shown. see more
October 8, 2019 PhD students working in Ghrante project were accepted to present their studies conducted within the frame of Ghrante project at the upcoming 10th European Slag Conference in Thessaloniki. Jorn Van De Sande will present results on: “Thermal behaviour of inorganic polymers synthesised from Fe-rich slags” and Roberto E. Murillo Alarcón will present the work focused on porous inorganic polymers entitled: “Mixed Na+, K+ alkaline activators for the synthesis of Fe-rich slag based porous inorganic polymers”
July 3, 2019 Jorn Van De Sande presented his work on “Hybrid cements made of engineered CaO-Al2O3-FeOx-SiO2 slags” at the EMI International Conference at INSA Lyon, France. This event was a forum to present the newest findings and to depict the future development in Engineering Mechanics as the core discipline of science-enabled Civil and Mechanical Engineering understood in the broadest sense. see more
June 21, 2019 The 2nd industrial board meeting of Ghrante project went on in the 3Hoog meeting center in Leuven on June 21st 2019. In front of the audience composed of various industries, the project partners took the chance to show the progress within the first year of the project. The given presentations were supported by an installation made from samples produced within the Ghrante project.
June 13, 2019 During the research stay at the Univeristy of Oulu, the PhD students managed to produced the mechanically foamed inorganic polymers.
May 22, 2019 Phd students, Jorn Van De Sande and Roberto E. Murillo Alarcon, presented their work within the Ghrante project at SIM user forum in Ghent.
May 13, 2019 Jorn Van De Sande and Roberto E. Murillo Alarcón, the two PhD students of Ghrante project, will go to the University of Oulu in Finland. As visiting researches in the research group led by Dr. Päivö Kinnunen, they will take a chance to learn about how to produce inorganic polymer foams by mechanical foaming.
April 1, 2019 Ghrante project was presented within the SREMat group installation at the 6th edition of the International Slag Valorisation Symposium in Mechelen.
January 27, 2019 PhD student Roberto E. Murillo Alarcón presented in the 43rd International Conference and Exposition on Advanced Ceramics and Composites (ICACC 2019) the study: “Open-cell porous inorganic polymers from industrial Fe-rich.” The presentation included the efforts and outputs within the frame of Ghrante.
January 21, 2019 PhD students working in Ghrante project were accepted to present their studies conducted within the frame of Ghrante project at the upcoming Slag Valorisation Symposium. Jorn Van De Sande will present the paper: “Engineering of CaO-Al2O3-FeOx-SiO2 slags for high-performance hybrid cements”. Roberto Murillo Alarcón will present the work focused on porous inorganic polymers: “Open-cell porous inorganic polymers for sound absorption”.
January 14, 2019 We would like to invite you to the 6th edition of the International Slag Valorisation Symposium from 1 to 5 April 2019 in Mechelen, organized by the Department of Materials Engineering at the KU Leuven. This Symposium provides an overview of the current trends in the worldwide research and innovation strategies for the valorisation of ferrous and non-ferrous slags, fly ash, bottom ash and numerous other high-temperature (metallurgical) residues. More information on this Symposium is available at: slag-valorisation-symposium.eu/.
November 15, 2018 Inorganic polymer samples synthesized from Fe-rich slag were subjected to a firing at temperatures from 700 °C to 1350 °C. see more
October 30, 2018 On 30th October 2018 KU Leuven, VUB and FLAMAC representatives visited the PROMAT facility in Tisselt. The visit started with the general presentation about Promat and their main products and research focus. The Ghrante team was also allowed to visit the R&D labs together with the large scale fire testing lab. Our visit completed with a tour of one of the production lines situated in Tisselt. see more
September 20, 2018 GHRANTE Industrial Kick-off Meeting took place in the Campus Library of KU Leuven on 20th September 2018. The meeting started with the presentation of the project owner (Yiannis Pontikes, KU Leuven) and project officer (Jose Spinnewyn), followed by more detailed presentations of project partners and their role in the Ghrante project. see more
August 24, 2018 On the 24th of August 2018, the very first set of samples was produced by FLAMAC. Paste samples were casted in new molds, especially made for Ghrante project. see more
June 14, 2018 Prof. Yiannis Pontikes gave the first keynote lecture in the 5th International Symposium on Sustainable Minerals 2018, Windhoek Namibia, 14th – 15th June 2018, on “Converting Fe-rich residues from metallurgical processes into novel materials: the process, the properties and some performance-based applications”. The RECOVER processes, as well as the activities and outcomes of the project, were presented within the frame of the lecture.
June 11, 2018 Prof. Yiannis Pontikes presented in the 10th International Conference on the Environmental and Technical Implications of Construction with Alternative Materials WASCON 2018 the study: “Developing a more “respectful” cement: from thermodynamic calculations to real–life applications” . The presentation included the efforts and outputs within the frame of RECOVER, in the direction of the study’s objectives.
May 17, 2018 On the 17th of May KULeuven visited BRRC. The aim was to enhance collaboration through understanding each side’s role within the GHRANTE project. Presentations were followed by facilities visit. see more
April 10, 2018 On 10th April 2018 FLAMAC visited KU Leuven. The main aim of the visit was the demonstration on how KU Leuven prepares (practically) dense and porous inorganic polymers. The live sample preparation has taken place in the SlagLab, the SREMat’s laboratory (Secondary Resources for Engineered Materials) coordinated by Yiannis Pontikes.
March 22, 2018 On 22nd March 2018 KU Leuven representatives visited FLAMAC facility. The presentation given by FLAMAC was followed by a lab visit, where equipment used in the project was presented. Visit ended with a constructive discussion focused on the project’s goals achievement.
March 9, 2018 GHRANTE Kick-off Meeting took place in the Department of Materials Engineering (MTM), KU Leuven on 9th March 2018. The Meeting included presentations of the project officer and project partners. Project owner (Yiannis Pontikes-KULeuven) presented the SREMat group’s work and some key project aspects activities related to the GHRANTE project.
October 31, 2017 See more.
4th Industrial board meeting
Submission of paper to the “Cement and Concrete Research”
Presentation @ Rawmat 2021
Presentations at 7th International Slag Valorisation Symposium
Developed materials passed the lab testing
3rd Ghrante Industrial board meeting
3D printed mold
Work of PhD student published in Resources, Conservation and Recycling
Inorganic Polymer samples produced in a high-throughput way
Hands-on training at Flamac
PhD students of Ghrante at EUROSLAG 2019
Presentation at EMI International Conference
Ghrante industrial board meeting
First mechanically foamed inorganic polymers
Ghrante at SIM user forum 2019
Research stay at University of Oulu, Finland
Ghrante at SVS
Oral presentation at ICACC 2019
Participation at the 6th International Slag Valorisation Symposium
Invitation to the 6th International Slag Valorisation Symposium
Fire resistant IP sample
Promat visit
Industrial kick off meeting
Very first samples made by FLAMAC
Prof. Yiannis Pontikes in the 5th International Symposium on Sustainable Minerals ’18
Prof. Yiannis Pontikes at Wascon 2018
BRRC visit
KU Leuven visit
Flamac visit
GHRANTE kick off meeting
Prof. Yiannis Pontikes has been announced a Keynote Speaker at WASCON in June the 6th of 2018
