CENTER USES 'GREENER' BLOCKS

POTSDAM — Clarkson University students know that building blocks are important — whether you're talking about the basic elements of chemistry or the fundamentals of engineering.

So the construction of the college's $25 million Student Center is set to send students a special message, thanks to the research of one Clarkson professor.

Narayanan Neithalath, a professor of civil and environmental engineering at Clarkson's Center for Advanced Materials Processing, developed a special formula using locally produced recycled material to manufacture the 7,500 concrete blocks that make up the 56,000-square-foot building's shell.

"We had to break some barriers. People have to have confidence in using something different," he said. "We were trying to look at, can we take out a certain amount of the cement and use this material, and is it still going to last long enough to be durable?"

Potters Industries of Potsdam, which produces glass beads from recycled glass for use in reflective highway paint and hypodermic needles, generates more than 8,000 tons of excess fine powder annually.

Mr. Neithalath, who is an expert on cement-based materials, wanted to use that waste material, which looks like light gray baby powder, to make more sustainable concrete blocks.

His research was supported by the state Department of Economic Development Environmental Investment Program and the state Foundation for Science, Technology and Innovation.

"We know how different things work based on their chemistry. So based on that, we tested different formulations," Mr. Neithalath said. "Nothing comes close to using this as a cement replacement, where you have a lot of economic benefit."

By replacing about 20 percent of the most expensive — and least sustainable — ingredient in concrete with the recycled industrial glass powder, Mr. Neithalath was able to produce a cheaper, more "green" building material.

Portland cement, which normally makes up about 25 percent of concrete, is limestone-based and costly to produce.

"It's not very sustainable. You have to dig up a lot of limestone to get it and then burn it at high temperatures. And of course when you burn a lot of energy, you manufacture carbon dioxide," Mr. Neithalath said.

With the help of two undergraduate and two graduate students, the professor also found that his specially formulated glass powder concrete blocks were actually stronger than traditional ones.

"You can take away some of the expensive and energy-intensive Portland cement without losing any of its important properties — and in fact, you make the concrete better," Mr. Neithalath said.

So after he conducted numerous tests, Clarkson had the Potsdam-based Woodruff Block fill an order for 7,500 concrete blocks using the recycled material formulation.

Those blocks are now being put into place in the walls and elevator shaft of the college's hill campus Student Center.

"I didn't know the Student Center would be the first — that was just a coincidence," Mr. Neithalath said.