Sino-Singapore Jingwei Client, March 28 (Yan Shuxin) Whenever a sandstorm strikes, do you complain about "sand again"?
But everyone knows that the world is facing a "sand shortage" situation.
Recently, some media reported that with the explosive growth of demand, sand consumption has exceeded the natural growth rate. Some scholars believe that sand is likely to become an important strategic resource for all countries in the future.
There is a shortage of sand and the price of sand has skyrocketed.
Data show that at present, in China, the price of river sand in some areas has exceeded 200 yuan/ton, which is at least 12 times higher than in 2010.
Among them, some consumers reported that in Jining, Shandong, sand has begun to be sold by the catty.
New latitude and longitude in the data map
The global sand is in a hurry
According to CCTV Finance, statistics from the United Nations Environment Programme show that global sand consumption has increased by 200% compared to 20 years ago, partly because of the rapid development of urbanization.
Buildings, bridges, roads, land reclamation and other projects all use a lot of sand.
According to CNBC's report, in construction projects alone, the world consumes more than 40 billion tons of sand every year.
If you use these sands to build a wall 27 meters high and 27 meters wide, the sand wall can circle the earth.
The United Nations Environment Program predicts that by 2030, the global annual demand for sand and gravel will be close to 50 billion tons.
It is worth mentioning that although one-third of the earth is covered by deserts, the desert, which is the main source of the "sandstorm", is not suitable for construction because the sand is too smooth and round.
Therefore, Dubai, UAE, located in the desert, spends at least US$400 million a year to import sand from all over the world.
However, most of the angular sand suitable for construction comes from rivers-it only occupies less than 1% of the earth's area.
Although river sand is a renewable resource, with the explosive growth in demand, sand consumption has exceeded the natural growth rate.
The huge consumption makes the global sand urgent.
Some scholars believe that in the future, sand is likely to become an important strategic resource for all countries.
New latitude and longitude in the data map
The price of river sand has increased by more than 12 times in 11 years
Sand and gravel are the most basic and indispensable building materials in engineering construction.
It is understood that construction sand is divided into two categories: natural sand and machine-made sand.
Among them, natural sand includes river and lake sand, land sand, and sea sand, while machine-made sand is gravel made by mechanical crushing.
According to the Zhongtai Securities Research Report, sand and gravel are used as aggregates (a general term for materials such as sand and gravel), which are mainly used in concrete, accounting for about 6/7 of the quality of concrete.
China is the world's largest consumer market for sand and gravel aggregates.
Data show that from 2008 to 2019, China's total aggregate consumption of sand and gravel increased from 10 billion tons to 21.3 billion tons, which more than tripled.
The China Sand and Gravel Association predicts that between 2020 and 2030, China's annual demand for sand and gravel aggregates will reach a high of 25 billion tons and then run smoothly.
After years of large-scale mining, China's sand and gravel resources have gradually decreased. Since 2019, many places have faced shortages of sand and gravel.
According to reports, in 2019, in Hubei Province, high-speed rail, airport, expressway and other key projects were suspended due to the supply of sand and gravel. Residents even had to go to the village committee to issue a certificate for decoration and purchase of sand. In 2021, the province's average annual construction sand consumption is estimated to be about 110 million cubic meters, with a gap of 75%.
The contradiction between supply and demand caused the price of sand to skyrocket.
Taking river sand as an example, according to CCTV Finance, in the 1980s, in China, river sand only cost two to three yuan per ton, but in 2010 it rose to about 15 yuan per ton, and starting from the second half of 2018, the price of river sand began to rise In many places, river sand has even risen to two to three hundred yuan per ton.
According to data, as of February 2021, the price of river sand in some parts of the country exceeded 200 yuan/ton, which was at least 12 times higher than in 2010.
"In the past, sand was sold in carts and carts, but now it is weighed by the catty, and it costs 9 cents a catty." Mr. Chang from Jining, Shandong told the Sino-Singapore Jingwei Client.
According to Mr. Chang, five years ago, the family spent 100,000 yuan on building a small courtyard. Now, due to the increase in the price of construction materials such as sand, it costs at least 170,000 yuan to build the same small courtyard, of which the cost of sand accounts for about 5. %about.
Mr. Jin, who is doing construction projects in Anhui, also felt the rise in sand prices.
"In our place, the price of river sand is currently 140 yuan/ton, which is about 20 yuan higher than two years ago." Mr. Jin said.
Looking for alternatives to sand
Sand is in a hurry, and the world is actively looking for alternatives.
In China, artificial sand is currently widely used.
Artificial sand, that is, the machine-made sand mentioned in the previous article, is sand and gravel that humans use mechanical processing and other means to process some natural materials and waste materials in accordance with scientific standards.
In view of the advantages of abundant resources and policy encouragement, mechanism sand is widely used in China.
According to data from China Sand Aggregate Network, China's machine-made sand consumption reached 19.41 billion tons in 2019, and the proportion of machine-made sand consumption in the total consumption of sand and gravel aggregates increased from 36.0% in 2008 to 91.1% in 2019.
“The proportion of machine-made sand consumption has continued to increase rapidly, and machine-made sand will completely replace natural sand. In the future, the processing of machine-made sand will reach new heights in terms of scale production and technical level.” Zhongtai Securities said Mentioned in the research report.
Mr. Jin also told the Sino-Singapore Jingwei Client that, during the construction process, he has mostly selected machine-made sand for concrete, and river sand is used for wall painting.
New latitude and longitude in the data map
It is worth mentioning that in March 2020, the National Development and Reform Commission, in conjunction with the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology, the Ministry of Natural Resources and other 15 departments and units issued the "Guiding Opinions on Promoting the Healthy and Orderly Development of the Sand and Stone Industry" (below) The “Guiding Opinions”) mentioned that it is necessary to gradually and orderly promote the exploitation and utilization of sea sand, and actively promote the alternative utilization of sand sources.
At that time, the person in charge of the relevant department told reporters that according to incomplete statistics, in the field of housing construction and municipal infrastructure engineering, purified sea sand accounted for about 6% of the total sand consumption.
Recently, due to geographical and cost factors, purified sea sand has become an important source of construction sand in some coastal areas.
However, it should be noted that sea sand contains high chloride ions, and direct use will bring hidden dangers to the safety of the main structure of the construction project.
In 2013, there were media reports that Shenzhen frequently exposed problems such as floor cracks and wall cracks in residential buildings. According to the survey results of the Shenzhen Municipal Government, the source of the problem was the use of a large amount of sea sand during construction.
The above-mentioned "Guiding Opinions" pointed out that it is necessary to strictly implement the sea sand use standards to ensure that the quality of sea sand meets the use requirements; strictly control the scope of sea sand use, and it is strictly forbidden to use sea sand that violates the requirements of the standards and specifications in construction projects.
In terms of promoting the alternative utilization of sand sources, the "Guiding Opinions" propose to support the comprehensive utilization of waste rock tailings and encourage the use of solid waste resources to produce recycled sand and gravel.
Other countries are also looking for solutions. For example, Zurich, Switzerland, uses 98% renewable concrete when building buildings; Amsterdam, the Netherlands, promises to cut natural resource consumption by half by 2030 and achieve 100% recycling by 2050.
Some researchers are also investigating the use of pozzolan, agricultural fertilizers, fly ash or fine quartz sand instead of sand.
According to the British "Daily Mail" report, some environmentally conscious entrepreneurs are still studying the use of mushrooms as environmentally friendly building materials, and engineers are already experimenting with mushroom bricks.
Sand also has these uses
In fact, in addition to being used in the construction field, sand has many uses. Smart phones, laptops, glass bottles for the new crown vaccine, and even chip manufacturing all need sand.
It is understood that sand is an important source of silicon material-the industrial field uses carbon and silicon dioxide to react at high temperatures to produce silicon, which is then used to produce solar cells, integrated circuit chips, etc.
Sand is also one of the main raw materials for glass manufacturing.
Lin Jiafu, an engineer from Taiwan Glass Fujian Photovoltaic Glass Co., Ltd., introduced to the Sino-Singapore Jingwei client that in the production process of photovoltaic glass, the amount of silica sand (also called silica or quartz sand) accounts for about 70% of the total raw materials. The volume reaches 32,000 tons, which can consume 81.76 million tons per year. The annual consumption of silica sand for float glass, which is widely used in the construction field, is greater than that of photovoltaic glass.
"Different from ordinary river sand, etc., glass silica sand has high requirements for the content of silica, generally higher than 99.3%. At present, there are several large glass silica sand bases in China, including Fengyang, Anhui, Zhanjiang, Guangdong, etc." Lin Jia Fu said that at present, the domestic supply of glass silica sand is relatively sufficient, but its price is significantly higher than that of river sand and other construction sand.
According to Lin Jiafu, at present, the ex-factory price of silica sand for ultra-white glass in the industry is at least 350 yuan/ton (tax included), and the ex-factory price of silica sand for ordinary glass has reached 200 yuan/ton (tax included).
Lin Jiafu told the Sino-Singapore Jingwei client that this year, due to the popularization of the new crown vaccine, the demand for silica sand has relatively increased, but the overall situation is relatively small and has little impact on the market.
"Compared with photovoltaic glass, float glass, mobile phone screens, vaccine bottles, etc., the overall consumption of silica sand is currently not large. Silica sand is still mainly used in the construction industry." Lin Jiafu said.
(Zhongxin Jingwei APP)
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