Roofing granules comprising agglomerated inorganic material treated with carbon dioxide gas, and building materials, such as shingles, that include such roofing granules. By fabricating roofing granules from agglomerating inorganic material it is possible to tailor the particle size distribution so as to provide optimal shingle surface coverage, thus reducing shingle weight and usage of raw materials. Additionally, the use of agglomeration permits the utilization of by-products from conventional granule production processes.

This invention relates to manufacturing briquettes, pellets and shapes from recycled asphaltic limestone powder derived from waste residential roofing products. Briquettes and pellets are manufactured through a densification process at varying temperatures, creating recycled asphalt pellets, asphalt limestone pellets and bio mass and coal fines briquettes. Various shapes, including curbs and posts, are manufactured through heat and pressure in molds. Seawalls, walkways and wall panels are manufactured by blending asphaltic limestone powders with polymer resins and extruded or pultruded into shapes.

A porous carbon that has an extremely high specific surface area while being crystalline, and a method of manufacturing the porous carbon are provided. A porous carbon has mesopores 4 and a carbonaceous wall 3 constituting an outer wall of the mesopores 4, wherein the carbonaceous wall 3 has a portion forming a layered structure. The porous carbon is fabricated by mixing a polyamic acid resin 1 as a carbon precursor with magnesium oxide 2 as template particles; heat-treating the mixture in a nitrogen atmosphere at 1000° C. for 1 hour to cause the polyamic acid resin to undergo heat decomposition; washing the resultant sample with a sulfuric acid solution at a concentration of 1 mol/L to dissolve MgO away; and heat-treating the noncrystalline porous carbon in a nitrogen atmosphere at 2500° C.

The present invention relates to fiber cement products comprising a first layer, which first layer is covered by at least one second layer, characterized in that said first layer is the top layer and the first layer material has a density of between about 0.4 and about 0.9 g/cm.sup.3 inclusive, and at least comprises cement and between 1 wt % and 70 wt % (relative to the total dry weight of said first layer material) of a lightweight filler, and said at least one second layer is the bottom layer and covers only one of the main surfaces of the first layer, thereby forming a bi-layered fiber cement product, wherein the second layer material has a density of between about 0.9 and about 1.4 g/cm.sup.3 inclusive, and at least comprises fibers and cement.

Stone slabs, and systems and methods of forming slabs, are described. Some example slabs include a first pattern defined by a first particulate mineral mix and a second pattern defined by a second particulate mineral mix different from the first particulate mineral mix. Locations of the first pattern have a first average thickness perpendicular to the slab width and the slab length, and locations of the second pattern have a second average thickness perpendicular to the slab width and the slab length that is different from the first average thickness.

A description is given of the use of an additive mixture (A) for combination with a solution or dispersion (B) comprising waterglass, for producing a moulding material mixture for producing articles from the group consisting of foundry moulds and foundry cores; a multi-component binder system comprising (A) an additive mixture and (B) a solution or dispersion comprising waterglass; a moulding material mixture comprising a mould base material (C) and also components (A) and (B) of such a multi-component binder system; a method for producing an article from the group consisting of foundry moulds and foundry cores; articles from the group consisting of foundry moulds and foundry cores; and the use of such an article for metal casting, preferably for light metal casting, more particularly for aluminium casting.

Provided are separators for use in an electrochemical cell comprising (a) an inorganic oxide and (b) an organic polymer, wherein the inorganic oxide comprises organic substituents. Also provided are electrochemical cells comprising such separators.

A thermal insulation member is directly or indirectly sandwiched between a first object and a second object and thereby suppresses or interrupts heat transfer between the first object and the second object. The thermal insulation member comprises: a first main surface opposed to the first object; and a second main surface positioned on the opposite side from the first main surface and opposed to the second object. The thermal insulation member has a porous structure of ceramic having pores. ZrO.sub.2 particles and different type material exist on surfaces of the ZrO.sub.2 particles form a skeleton of the porous structure. The different type material includes at least one selected out of SiO.sub.2, TiO.sub.2, La.sub.2O.sub.3, and Y.sub.2O.sub.3.

A method for ecological filling with mixed coal gangue and fly ash includes the following steps: S1: construction of a double-impermeable base layer: leveling a pit or gully, laying a fly ash-based cementitious material, compacting and curing; spraying a layer of polymer waterproof coating on a surface of the fly ash-based cementitious material, and fully curing to obtain a double-impermeable protective structure; S2: three-dimensional layered filling: dumping coal gangue and fly ash in sequence on the double-impermeable protective structure formed in S1, where the coal gangue and the fly ash are three-dimensionally layered and well graded; the coal gangue is coal gangue after coal washing, which is used as an aggregate; the fly ash is used as a filler and cementitious material to achieve a compact filling structure; and S3: rolling: rolling by a roller after the three-dimensional layered filling.

A base material for a membrane filter contains 90% by mass or more of aluminum oxide and 0.1% by mass or more and 10% by mass or less of titanium oxide. In a pore distribution curve measured by a mercury porosimeter, the base material has a first peak and a second peak which is higher than the first peak and is located at a pore size larger than that of the first peak, and the volume of pores with a pore size of 7 μm or more is 0.02 cm.sup.3/g or more.