Transmaterial

TX Active

TX Active is a photocatalytic cement that can reduce organic and inorganic pollutants present in the air. In a large city such as Milan, researchers have calculated that covering 15% of visible urban surfaces with products containing TX Active would enable a reduction in pollution of approximately 50%.

“With what we have termed urban photocatalysis,” explained Enrico Borgarello, GroupResearch & Development Manager, “in the presence of air and light a natural process of oxidization is created which leads to the decomposition of organic and inorganicsubstances present in the city. Let us take, for example, nitric oxides and dioxides, sulfur dioxides, carbon monoxide, i.e. some of the elements which we see controlled everyday by air monitoring stations: the photocatalytic reaction which occurs on the surface of the material treated with TX Active, thanks to its cement matrix transforms these pollutants into salts which have no impact on the environment and health. Laboratory tests have shown that just 3 minutes of exposure to the sun is sufficient to obtain a reduction in polluting agents of up to 75%."

According to Deputy General Manager Fabrizio Donegà, who runs the Italian operations, “TX Active will initially be marketed in Italy, then in France and in the United States, and subsequently in some other of the 19 countries where the Group operates worldwide. It is an industrial project which allows us to enter the exclusive product market and which gives us the opportunity to underline that cement, which is often popularly associated with environmental decline, is in fact a very environmentally efficient product." [via Italcementi Group; suggested by Nick McDaniel, Seattle.]

posted by Blaine @ 4:17 PM