Aurubis Bulgaria Receives Innovation Award for Environment Protection

Aurubis Bulgaria said it has received an award for innovation in the competition “ESG Awards 2023” for its contribution to the circular economy by developing new applications of iron silicate as a construction material.

The Innovation category mainly evaluated projects to reduce the use of resources, Aurubis Bulgaria said in a press release.

Aurubis Bulgaria has been awarded for finding new uses for a by-product of the copper mining industry as a construction material.

Aurubis Bulgaria became the first company in Europe to be certified for the use of iron silicate as an admixture for mixed cements and the first of the Aurubis AG Group to be certified for the use of the material in concrete and mortars.

The use of blended cements based on iron silicate has the potential to redefine the feedstock in cement production as the proportion of by-product from other industry increases in them and it also reduces the need to extract primary natural resources and the environmental impact.

“Replacing 20% of portland cement with iron silicate saves 170,000 tonnes of carbon emissions per million tonnes of cement produced,” the press release added.

The replacement will also lead to a reduction in the disposal of iron silicate as waste and water consumption for industrial purposes.

The ESG Awards are presented by PricewaterhouseCoopers Bulgaria (PwC) in partnership with Sofia University and the Green Centre for Sustainable Finance and Energy.

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