The innovative eco-friendly foundation material TECHNO-CRETE® is proving to be a successful alternative to concrete in railway construction projects and is growing in popularity.
TECHNO-CRETE® is a combination of hydrophobic polyurethane foam foundation materials that offers railroad contractors a green and cost-effective post-mix option. Its ease of use and minimal bulk dispensing qualities also ensure faster installation with fewer health and safety concerns.
TECHNO-CRETE® is made up of two parts, Part A is a blend of recycled organic mineral oil from the restaurant industry and sustainably grown canola oil, while Part B contains isocyanates.
When the two packets of liquid are mixed together and poured into the holes around the pillar, the mixed liquid expands to 20 times its original volume, forming a lightweight, dense foam. This foam mixture rises to fill the holes and wraps around the post, becoming a solid mass that holds the post in place within ten minutes. The cure time is 24 hours, but the post is hard enough to set in an hour.
A huge advantage of TECHNO-CRETE® over cement-based products is its ability to be used in severe weather. If the ground or air temperature drops below 0 degrees Celsius, the water needed to mix the concrete will freeze, and even if the temperature drops below zero degrees, the exothermic reaction of TECHNO-CRETE® will still occur, so no matter what the weather is, it will not There is a delay.
Compared to concrete
Concrete works by virtue of the quality of the material. To fill a typical 300mm diameter x 600mm depth fence post hole, 3 20kg bags of concrete post mix and 20 liters of water are required. However, TECHNO-CRETE® takes advantage of surface friction and the same post only needs a 1.8kg bag of TECHNO-CRETE® (and no water) to support it.
A large project involved 40 kilometers of fencing with posts spaced 4 meters apart, requiring 10,000 holes. Filling the 10,000 holes required the use of 600,000 kilograms of concrete post-mix and 200,000 liters of water: a total of 800 tonnes of material was required. Based on a payload of 18 tons per truck, that’s material for 45 trucks.
However, filling the same 10,000 holes over 40 km with the green method – using TECHNO-CRETE® – requires only 10,000 bags
1.8 kg bag of TECHNO-CRETE®. This is equivalent to 18 tons of materials, and only one truck is needed, which greatly saves the transportation cost of the entire project.
Environmental benefits
Cement makes up about a quarter of concrete mixes and is the third largest human-generated source of carbon dioxide emissions in the world. Producing one ton of cement produces an estimated 1.25 tons of CO2. Therefore, the 800 tons of concrete mix required for the work of the 10,000 holes mentioned above will generate approximately 150 tons of CO2.
In comparison, the 18 tons of TECHNO-CRETE® required for the same 10,000-hole project will generate 18 tons of CO2. This is more than 130 tonnes less CO2 than would be produced when concrete was used, and this does not take into account the additional CO2 produced when transporting the material to the site.
Operator Safety
With fewer tons of material to be handled on site, TECHNO-CRETE® reduces manual handling, which reduces operator back injuries and muscle fatigue. With fewer on-site health and safety issues, fewer injury claims. In a recent COSHH assessment by a Tier 1 contractor through Sypol, the market leading risk management system, TECHNO-CRETE® was found to be non-hazardous when used with standard PPE.
Another key advantage of using TECHNO-CRETE® is that if trackside traffic is inconvenient, operators can carry 10 bags of TECHNO-CRETE® in their backpack, effectively enabling them to service 10 columns by themselves. Carrying 30 bags of post-concrete mix and 200 liters of water required more time and labor, increasing the chances of operators getting burned by the cement, one of the biggest health and safety issues facing contractors.
Who is using it?
TECHNO-CRETE® has been used to support the GRP handrails for the upgrade of the Transpennine line between York and Manchester, while the base material combination has also been used to support the installation of dividing bars on the London Docklands light rail network. TECHNO-CRETE® was also ideal for the challenging installation work in the Drayton Park North Intercity Line re-lighting project in London.
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