A valuable synergy between Z-ONA4LIFE and Herba Ricemills, S.L.U.

Collaboration

Herba Ricemills, S.L.U. has collaborated with Z-ONA4LIFE to advance research into zeolite synthesis.
 
Herba Ricemills, S.L.U., is a company of the Ebro Foods group, founded in 1950 as the first food company in Spain. Herba collaborates with the Z-ONA4LIFE project by supplying one of the silicon-rich wastes, rice husk ash. This waste is a product resulting from the thermal transformation of rice husks and is considered to be one of the most abundant agri-food waste. 
 
Z-ONA4LIFE researchers and scientists have used this Si residue to synthesise zeolites, and the results have been published in the following journals:
- Salt slag and rice husk ash as raw materials in zeolite synthesis: Process optimization using central composite rotational design
- Waste Symbiosis through the Synthesis of Highly Crystalline LTA and SOD Zeolites
 
Aurora López-Delgado, Research Scientist at IETcc-CSIC and coordinator of the Z-ONA4LIFE project, reflects on the importance of this collaboration, highlighting:
 
"The collaboration with Herba was significant because they supplied us with rice husk ash, a silicon-rich waste, which provided us with the silicon needed to formulate zeolites from aluminium salt slag. It was one of the first silicon wastes we tested and the results of the studies carried out have been published in two international scientific journals. The co-recycling of these two wastes as secondary raw materials to synthesise zeolites promotes an industrial symbiosis, and can be considered a sustainable alternative in waste management, generating value-added materials and contributing greatly to the preservation of the environment".
 
The transformation of hazardous industrial waste into sustainable secondary raw materials requires collective action, as this collaboration with Herba Ricemills demonstrates.

The Z-ONA4LIFE team is delighted to continue collaborating with Herba Ricemills to advance the knowledge of processes to produce zeolites from waste.

This is a great contribution to the circular economy and to better and more efficient waste management practices.