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Man-made sand from blue metal is being held up as a good substitute for river sand, but the builders might need more convincing.

R. Yegya Narayanan

Builders in Coimbatore grapple with shortage of quality sand for construction because the city is far removed from areas where sand is mined . The builders source sand from the Cauvery river bed near Tiruchi, 200 km away. The distance and the fact that the vehicles are overloaded to make it profitable for operators puts a premium on sand availability. The problem gets accentuated during the monsoons when sand mining on river beds becomes difficult or impossible due to floods.

The price of one unit of river sand, which had gone up to Rs. 2,800/unit, has come down to around Rs. 2,200/unit now. The advantage of using good river sand is that it mixes easily with cement and bonds well, making the plastering work less cumbersome for the masons and giving a good finish to the buildings. But on the other hand, the continuous mining of sand causes environmental problems.

Tirupur company upbeat

In such a scenario, artificial sand is seen as a welcome alternative to natural sand. A Tirupur-based company, i Blue Minerals Pvt Ltd, has hit upon the idea of manufacturing sand from blue metal for which it has put up a plant at Thennilai near Karur at an investment of Rs. 18 crore. While the production of blue metal as the base product has commenced, sand manufacture as a by-product is expected to begin in about three months.

Mr Veerappan Ganesh, CEO, i Blue Minerals, said the plant has the capacity to produce 300 tonnes/hour of blue metal while the sand manufacture capacity would be 100 t/hr which could be scaled up to 300 t/hr. He said the manufactured sand would be of better quality than even crusher sand and the sand would be produced using Japanese technology.

Explaining the advantages , he said the sand would be 100 per cent pure and it would not contain impurities such as clay particles and stones. The artificial sand would be available in two grades — 1-3 mm for plastering and 3-5 mm for all construction work. Since it was factory manufactured, its availability would not be subjected to the vagaries of the monsoon.

As it would be double-washed and silt-free, it would bond better with cement and would require lesser curing time than river sand.

Referring to the potential demand for man-made sand, he said even if the factory produced 1,000 tonnes of sand per day, it would be just a fraction of the total demand for sand in the Coimbatore region. Hence, he was confident of marketing the entire sand produced by his unit.

Competitive price

Mr Ganesh said the price would be competitive and he intends to sell it 20-30 per cent lower than the price of river sand — in the price range of about Rs. 1,300/unit. Another marketing strategy being planned is to sell the sand in 50 kg bags through retail hardware stores/cement dealers so that people who need small quantity of sand could buy this ready-to-use product.

But builders feel the benefits of artificial sand are yet to be established.

Col (retd) A. Sridharan, Managing Director, Covai Property Centre (India) Private Ltd, Coimbatore, said pricing and the long-term strength of buildings built using artificial sand were key issues that would have a bearing on builders deciding to use it in lieu of natural river sand though he was in favour of it from an environmental point of view.

He said the manufacturers of artificial sand were yet to establish with the help of a credible source such as IIT the long-term impact of using it in construction.

The colour of this sand made from blue metal was not an issue since after plastering, the walls would have to be covered with putty and paint and hence, in terms of aesthetic value, both artificial and river sand would be equal. It was the long-term impact of the artificial sand in mixing that was required to be ascertained.

Col Sridharan pointed out that there were doubts even when fly ash was offered as an alternative to red bricks.

But now those misgivings have largely gone. He said builders need to stock large quantities of river sand during monsoon season fearing shortage but once the artificial sand is proved to be as good as river sand, this would not be needed.

Mr Ganesh said once production begins, he would seek quality certification from institutions such as IIT. He also plans to organise meetings of masons, builders and architects to convince them about the benefits of using artificial sand and its long-term environmental value.