The ancient Chinese added sticky rice to their construction mortar 1,500 years ago to form a superior version of limestone, which is stronger and more water resistant than its non-agrified counterpart.
Today, MINIWIZ is putting a spin on this by adding agricultural waste to cement, getting an end product with superior performance and a lower environmental impact. Typically, high performance concrete (HPC) requires performance enhancers, such as silica additives.
Instead of using the typical fly ash or silica fume which have a highly inconsistent composition, MINIWIZ's RICE Cement uses silica derived from agricultural waste. MINIWIZ uses its patent pending technology to extract silica from barley and rice husk, creating agro-silica, a nano additive capable of enhancing material strength, production workability, and fire-proofing performance without using toxic chemical enhancers.
Agro-silica is amorphous and its SiO2 content is >98%, a significant improvement compared with the 80-90% SiO2 content of fly ash and silica fume.
Testing indicates Agro-silica enhanced RICE Cement can reduce 15% of concrete cost in standard applications (requiring 4,000 psi), and in high-performance concrete (HPC) applications, there is an average 11% increase in compressive strength performance (in the range from 10,000-22,000 psi) for the same cost as regular HPC. These cost savings only takes the pound per pound cost of cement into account. With RICE Cement, there are also added benefits such as the ability to use cheaper fillers and less Portland cement, which reduces overall materials shipping costs. In addition, due to the silica bonding on a nano level, RICE Cement is less porous, making it more impervious to water and acid, increasing the lifespan of the concrete.
With cement production contributing to 5% of the world's CO2 emissions, and 80% of concrete consisting of cement, MINIWIZ is turning the world's largest source of agricultural waste into a sustainable solution for the built environment.
This site is currently under construction...full site coming in February 2012. In the meantime, please visit the MINIWIZ website for more information.