Novel Counter Flow Classification System for the sustainable grading of high value industrial sands-RICHSAND

Sand is the second most used natural commodity on the planet after water. It is also a non-renewable resource over human timescale. The RICHSAND project tackles the _urgent need_ to develop a more efficient, cost effective and sustainable material recovery of tightly specified grades of general and recycled sands needed to meet the demands of growing populations and high value manufacturing markets. The project is focused on the development of a new, large scale, innovative industrial equipment and process, which uses flowing water, under highly controlled conditions, to efficiently segregate and classify the grain size of industrial volumes of sand. Examples of such high value market are sands are those needed in construction(e.g. Cement) of our basic infrastructure (e.g. bridges,housing), manufacturing (e.g. glass, ceramics) water filtration and our leisure industries (golf,equestrian,landscaping). CDEGlobal Ltd. the lead applicant has completed preliminary research on this new process and now together with key consultants will meet the technical challenges of building and testing an industrial-scale system to ensure that the advanced sorting or classification of the sand is functional, efficient, safe and economic while reducing environmental impact.This project supports the UK circular economy in the reuse, recycling and remediation of valuable natural resources while ensuring a sustainable supply chain for manufacturing industries.