Packaged graded sand is akin to cement bags? Yes, it is going to be a reality soon when the efforts of this research scholar come to fruition.
At a time when the State has accorded a top priority to this ‘scarce commodity’ by selling it through DWCRA groups, the study taken up by Sangati Chennakesava Reddy assumes significance. While construction engineers are laying emphasis on the quality of steel, bricks and cement, sand seldom gets the attention it deserves. Purification of sand involves ten steps, including aspiration, sieving, de-silting, drying and grading as per requirement, he says.
“Mere sieving leaves the dust behind. Sand gets its basic binding strength from the crystalline shape, but the mixture of sand and dust makes it weak”, Mr. Chennakesava Reddy says, adding once graded as fine sand, granules, pebbles and etc. to be used for specific tasks like plastering, construction and flooring, it can be bought over the counter like cement bags.
His study ‘A process for manufacturing conditioned, graded and packed (CGP) sand’ was undertaken under the Department of Science and Technology’s Promotion of University Research and Scientific Excellence (DST-PURSE) programme at Sri Venkateswara University. “It is a novel idea. The low-cost technology ensures high quality construction in future,” says D.V.R. Sai Gopal, PURSE Coordinator and a professor at SVU. The process is awaiting patent.
Though Mr. Reddy’s area of research is food technology, the hassles in transporting sand, the mess created by the discarded material and the wastage of the precious resource gave him the food for thought. The idea has also secured a place in India Innovation Initiative 2014 (www.i4c.co.in), a collaborative platform of DST, AICTE and the Confederation of Indian Industry (CII), aimed at ‘kick-starting India’s innovation movement’.
Mr. Reddy, at present teaches at ANGRAU College of Food Science and Technology in Pulivendula, .
