Here's a story saying that Italian producer Italcementi has created a "smog-eating" cement road surfacing product that's been shown to reduce various pollutants by 40-65% outside of Milan. It's getting another test in the alpine region of Alto Adige.
The company says it's product can also be used for flooring, roof tiles, cement-based masonry paint, building siding, and noise barriers.
Making cement's pretty straightforward. Get some clay, a lot of limestone, grind it up into a powder, mix and bake at 2700 degrees Farenheit. There's some variations -- your competitors might throw in a bit of gypsum. Then someone says, "hey, what if we could put stuff in this that would react with light to absorb smog?"
Were customers asking for smog-eating cement surfacing for their roads? Were they saying to cement makers, "gee, if you only made cement that could eat smog..." Customers don't know what they want because they don't know what the alternatives might be. It's producers that drive innovation by anticipating what customers will want (and pay for).
It's no surprise to me that Italcementi is pursuing an innovative new product like "smog-eating" cement. Italcementi was an early adopter of blending petroleum coke with coal to fire their cement kilns back in the '80's. This provided them many benefits including a lower overall fuel cost in producing cement. A culture of innovation liberates the knowledge and creative ideas of all employees to improve business results through new, value-added products or lower costs of production.
Posted by: Dick Anderson | 26 July 2005 at 03:00 PM