Frontier IP notes the following announcement from portfolio company Alusid that it has successfully collaborated with Imerys, a world leader in specialty minerals to make floor tiles.
The collaboration started after Alusid was named as one of two winners in the Imerys Start-Up Innovation Factory competition launched last year, from sixty-five companies from around the world selected to participate. The aim of the competition’s first edition was to enable Imerys to research potential partners to collaborate on innovation to meet circular economy challenges.
Over the past few months, Alusid and Imerys have run two parallel trials to make products using Imerys by-products: the floor tiles, and another to make larger items such as coffee tables and worktops. Both were successful, and the floor tiles are now attracting commercial interest, including from a leading retailer. Frontier IP holds a 38.9 per cent equity stake in the Company.
Imerys generated €4.4 billion in revenues during 2021 and employs 16,300 people.
Alusid statement follows:
Alusid has successfully produced high-quality, hard-wearing floor tiles made from 100 per cent recycled waste after being named as one of the winners in the Start-Up Innovation Factory competition launched by Imerys, a world leader in minerals-based specialty solutions.
The aim of the first edition of the competition, launched last year, was to enable Imerys to research potential partners to collaborate on innovation to meet circular economy challenges on technical themes, such as recovering and recycling construction material waste. Sixty-five start-ups from around the world were selected to participate.
Alusid has been trialling tile manufacture using six Imerys by-products over the past few months as a continuation of the competition. An Imerys team, led by Cédric Poilly, Customer Application Engineer for Ceramics EMEA, provided support. Two parallel projects were run: one making the floor tiles and the other larger items, such as coffee tables and worktops. Both proved successful, and the next step is to scale up the technology for industrial production.
Made from 100 per cent recycled waste, 90 per cent of which came from Imerys, the tiles use three by-products in the recipe, with scope to include additional materials directly produced by Imerys or from its customers.
The tiles have the same performance as those made from non-recycled materials, and have already attracted interest from potential customers, including a leading retail brand.
Benefits include the use and recycling of surplus raw materials and by-products that would normally go to waste. Alusid’s processes consume less gas to manufacture than conventional tiles with energy usage potentially cut by more than 35 per cent because of lower firing temperatures and the use of dry powder granulation rather than spray drying. Water use is also reduced by up to 75 per cent.
Working with Imerys on this project has expanded our available sources of recycled material and allowed us to create a product missing from our range, a hard-wearing, high-quality floor tile. Imerys extensive knowledge and their scale means they have the capacity to help us precise our business model and ultimately reduce the environmental impact of tile production. In the initial pilot trial, we had to deal with some warping and adapting with firing these unconventional materials. However, the results are promising enough for us to envision industrial trials. Our aim is to achieve porcelain stoneware classification on water absorption and breaking strength, making our tiles as good as tiles made from non-recycled materials
Alusid Chief Executive Officer Alasdair Bremner
Working with start-ups through this challenge was very educational and promising for Imerys. The challenge itself has created a more structured approach for open innovation in the future.
Frederic Jouffret, Imerys Vice-President, Performance Minerals Science & Technology
We’re delighted with Alusid’s success in, first, being one of only two winners from a global competition organised by a multinational group, and second, in developing a wholly new product from Imerys’ by-products. Success provides further validation of the Company’s unique technology to recycle industrial waste into premium-quality tiles and surfaces.
Frontier IP Chief Executive Officer Neil Crabb
