Produced by a number of Belgian companies from the 1920s onwards, ceramic tiles were promoted for their extreme resistance to wear, acids and basis. Because of their ease of maintenance, under the influence of the hygienist movements they soon became material of choice for floors and wall lining in schools, swimming pools, and hospitals. They were also popular in private residences for kitchens, bathrooms and hallways.
At the beginning of 2019, RotorDC took usage of an installation specially developed to reprocess these tiles after salvage on demolition and renovation sites. This installation improves on earlier methods that used mechanical means to remove the mortar resulted in a high number of damaged tiles and proved very costly. We make use of a weak biological acid. Salvaged tiles rest for a few days in an acidic bath, leaving the tiles intact but dissolving the mortar. The tiles are then cleaned with a high pressure water jet, dried, and packaged. This process removes the old mortar entirely, allowing the tiles to be installed in a thin mortar bed or even with cement-glue.
By optimising the packaging, making use of rainwater for cleaning, and by carefully monitoring the process, we have managed to bring the environmental impact of our reclaimed tiles below 15% of that of equivalent new tiles (independently verified by CSTC in a full LCA).
