A new building material category, the Xiritons, obviously enables other construction methods and design. For example: would one see the difference between a ‘normal’ brick-facade and a Xiriton wall with pasted brick strips? Natural stone walls in rural villages are beautiful, but notirically unstable, hence many ruins. Suppose one pours against a Xiriton wall inside... Rediscover Roman architecture (opus caementiticium) T.z.t. more

Widely known, versatile C4 grass for XB types and as a wood substitute in a building construction. The very hard outer layer of bamboo requires customised recipes.

See wikipedia. Artificial reefs of Xiritons (low cost, lots of variation) as a growth base for more marine life. The more marine fauna and marine flora, the more bonded carbon underwater in the form of limescale in shells, (exo) skeletons etc. and steady deacidification of the seawater.

Xiriton pioneer of the first hour!

Intended are industrial clinker-based cements, also known as OPC (Ordinary Portland Cement). Its production is a not insignificant factor within the climate problem. Is only added in combination with lime, etc. in X_1- to X_4 types, for slightly more function-oriented hardness. X_5 and the following types are basically OPC free.

Much more will be debated about this; Point 1 is that addition of biomass according to building standards is virtually taboo. So that's the characteristic difference with Xiritons, where specific biomass is essentially the main share. Point 2 is that the construction with concrete requires in principle steel reinforcement. And steel production is an environmental factor that the construction industry prefers to remain silent about... Despite all environmental aspects, concrete is a fantastic building material, for the right application..., The combination with Xiritonen offers possibilities for fire safety and structural maintenance of works of art such as bridges, viaducts, etc.

How much is enough? Primarily, the following rules of thumb apply: What one can build with brick in terms of statistics is also possible with Xiriton. The strongest type of Xiriton is about the weakest type of concrete.

There are 4 aspects, or factors, with which this primary goal of the concept can be achieved. - grass rods - rhizomes - recalcination of binders - re-activation of bio-processes by irrigation infrastructure. ...Will be further explained...

See Wikipedia. The focus is on these grass species due to the high biomass efficiency (CO2 reduction) in context with “water” in general. Preference is currently given to a) miscanthus, b) spartina, c) bamboo and d) reeds; each species with its own ‘SWAT’ aspects.

The Xiriton-conzept has four interconnected domains, with much left to discover: (A) strategic landscape management for the cultivation of suitable grass species. B) development and production of Xiritones as ecological building materials, characterised by the sustainable connection of organic cell structures of specific grass fibres with cristaline structures of specific minerals. C) the alternative architecture and construction processes through Xiritons D) the new logistics regarding the biobased input for the waste-free Xiriton production and waste-free recycling of Xiriton products with as little fossil energy as possible.

Xiritones typically have low values in this domain. Here too, the rules of thumb apply as to ‘Pressure Strength’. The context of construction and its function is also relevant, how ‘flexible’ the material should be.

Means the use of biodegradable, water-permeable textiles, for the design of Xiriton objects, of course made of organic fibres (jute/hemp/sisal/coconut etc.) The textiles almost form the skin of still unpaved Xiriton, which then rots and leaves the Xirirton object. Considered as a highly economical method for the construction of artificial reefs for coastal protection.

Essentially does not exist in the Xiriton- livecycle, at most ‘remnants’. These can simply be added more or less sorted to the new mix next time. Even Sawdust and grinding and cleaning water (tools) is reused.

Theme of idea competition "Created in the bud", organised in 2009 by Hans Köhne of the Cement&BetonCentrum. Winner: Xiriton! "Green concrete is coming"

Mentor died too early. He was the decisive vote on the jury of “Green Concrete”. He later tells me that it was quite heated at the last jury meeting; a jury member said: "When we let Xiriton win, then the floodgate goes open....". Hans organised a Xiriton-brainstorm-workshop in 2010, where a collaboration with Strukton was eventually established.

The lime-circle: Pros and cons of the oldest binder of our (construction) ‘culture.’

A) to produce Xiriton products B) to build with Xiritones More about this asap

The most suitable grass species so far due to stem structure, silicate content and lignin. More on this asap. Meanwhile, read more on Wikipedia Miscanthus

CO2 conversion chemically plausible, but problematic in practice given the absorbent efficiency compared to delving and distribution costs. Also the aspect of the memorised heavy metals; Olivine is not in pure form anywhere in the world. Was subject to “Green Concrete” in 2009. Application in Xiritones is only seen as an effective slitage layer in Xiriton asphalt.

Puzzolaan, see also "Tefra", together with quenched lime, forms the hydraulic mortar with which the grass fibres are bound.

Numerous different Xiriton recipes are possible. The aim is a potentially favourable carbon footprint, which means that the CO2 emissions from the reactive part of the binder should be overcompensated by the CO2 absorption of the mass of grass in the recipe. The rule of thumb is about: 1 litre of slaked lime is compensated by 3 litres of grass. See also ‘CO2 reduction’. Additives such as sand, shells, etc. have only a small proportion to this CO2 picture. However, they are very decisive for weight and hardness of Xiritones.

Is not the best grass for Xiriton, but it can take into account a few aspects. The ecological utility of reeds is widely known and it has been used since primeval times. X-type='XR'.

Shells are not just lime (...) Added whole or crushed depends on the recipe. The intention is of course not to plunder the sea for this. After all, by constructing artificial reefs would also promote the growth of the mussel and oyster population in order to build a sustainable resource.

Alias "slijkgrass", Soon more...

In connection with Xiritonen, it is intended how the environment or landscape can be set up for the cultivation of C4 grasses, so that without conflict with the agricultural sector (food and animal husbandry), nature conservation and ‘social living space’. There is even enough ‘niche- space’ for this in the Netherlands. Anyone travelling through the landscape with open eyes can easily notice the incomprehensible waste of land in urban and industrial zones. Take all those large dikes, noise barriers and accesses at motorways; half of this area could easily be better used economically by C4 grass cultivation. (unused potential by Rijkswaterstaat)

Is the Xiriton concept a ‘technology’ or just a collection of methods? ‘Technology’ is when multiple disciplines are involved and ‘communicate’ with each other in order to be able to convert a (complex) technical topic/problem into solutions or products, processes and methods. ‘Communicating’ in the sense that the knowledge gained can be transferred about the whole (tradition), so ‘the art’ of teaching others as well, for the benefit of all involved. If this is linked to planning and systematics, there may even be ‘science’. After all, the concept of ‘technology’ is a composition of the Greek words ‘techne’ (‘art’/’amics’/‘can’) and ‘logos’ (‘reason’ / ‘learn’ / ‘(eaching someone’), loosely translated ‘learning the art’.

Tefra, see also "Puzzolana". Key criteria: Blaine number, high silica content, low sulphur content.

Due to the versatility of the concept, it is useful to be able to slightly specify the different Xiriton recipes. The proposed coding is an attempt to do this pragmatically. This helps with any kind of documentation. Adjustments to new insights probably. The format is a string of letters and numbers:

• the first letter ‘X’ obviously means ‘Xiriton’
• the second letter names the grass species (underscore ‘_’ = placeholder for completion later)
• position 3 is a number for the binder category
• position 4 is an ‘S’ for ‘Sea/salt/sand/shells’ or just no ‘S’
• after a dash (minus sign) all kinds of codes can be added to characterise, for example, project-specific recipes.

Example: ‘XM5S-N0’ = Xiriton with Miscanthus, binder puzzolane/lime, (seawater, sand and shells), NIOZ basic formula. Etc.

See also “Waste”. Use of the fine fraction of demolition concrete. Reuse of discarded ceramics; a new topic.

Xiriton was sometimes labelled ‘nailable concrete’. The use of nails to connect Xiriton tiles together or strike against a wood construction is certainly possible. The use of wood screws ditto. Plugs are not necessary. However, the length of nails and screws must be a bit longer than for wood. A waterproof wood glue is also very suitable for permanent connection of X-tiles and blocks. Water glass and lime mortars ditto.

Disastrous for concrete, an asset to Xiritons. Under the microscope there is still much to discover about the interaction of this mineral with lime, silicates and grass-cell structure.

What is it really; ‘sand’? An important aspect is that ‘desert sand’, absolutely unsuitable for concrete, can be used in Xiritons. The connection of sand grains with grass fibre (cells) is interesting.

Interesting, ecological adhesive with unprecedented possibilities in combination with tefra and natural oils.

Plural of ‘Xiriton’ as a collective term for all types of Xiriton. How many variants are possible is not yet incalculable.

Is a steering factor for which Xiriton type is suitable for which application. The proportion of grass fibres (quality) is most decisive.

Seawater is more than H2O + NaCl. It contains a range of other minerals and a lot of micro-sea life. Concrete to make with seawater already doesn't work because of the steel reinforcement (concrete rot). It is different with Xiritones because the grass fibres are the reinforcement and puzzolane binders benefit from the salt minerals. Being able to produce stone-like building material on a Large scale without the need for clean water offers enormous opportunities when building long the coast.

The combination of Wood, which is minimally processed is already good enough, and Xiriton is actually optimal with regard to statistics, fire safety, etc. However, the behaviour of wood in relation to water must be taken into account in certain construction methods. Replacing grass fibres with sawdust is problematic; the cause lies in the evolution of the wood cell structure.