The developers said the product will also increase the income of cowsheds.
Indore:
The Indian Institute of Technology, Indore, has developed the first natural foaming agent based on cow dung that will act as thermal insulation when mixed with modern building material like concrete, making it lighter, officials said on Tuesday.
The foaming agent GOBAiR is the first such product in the country, they said.
Adding this eco-friendly product to the building material will not only reduce the cost of building houses, but will also keep buildings cool in summer and warm in winter, officials said.
The innovative product is completely natural and much more environmentally and cost-friendly than the chemical-based foaming agents available on the market.
GOBAiR was developed by Professor Sandeep Chaudhary and his PhD student Sanchit Gupta.
“We were working on ways and means to generate higher income from cow manure and support gaushalas (cow stables) in the management of stray cattle. This is how GOBAiR came into existence,” said Professor Chaudhary.
He claimed that GOBAiR enables lightweight concrete, which can be produced at approximately 24% lower cost than commercially used building materials.
“The product exhibits better economics and properties than red clay bricks and fly ash bricks available in the market. If the profits are translated into monetary value, the income from wet cow dung can increase from its current value of less than Rs 1 to more than Rs 4 per kilogram,” said a release issued by the IIT-Indore.
GOBAiR can be added into concrete, bricks, tiles and blocks, to produce a wide range of sustainable building materials.
Building with GOBAiR will be much more environmentally friendly and will help achieve more points in the green building assessment, the report said.
The team is currently working on developing a specification table that the construction industry can use as a reference for adding GOBAiR into concrete.
The team has also contacted IGBC for the Green Product Certification of construction products made from GOBAir. A patent has already been filed for this innovative technology, the release said.
(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by WhatsNew2Day staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)