Now retired, Ulric (Neville) Trotz was formerly the Deputy Director & Science Adviser, Caribbean Community Climate Change Centre, Belmopan, Belize
In a Reuters article in the Stabroek News in their publication of April 26th , 2022, entitled “Sand crisis looms as world population surges, U.N. warns”, attention was drawn to a recent UNEP report that called for urgent action to avert a “sand crisis” including a ban on beach extraction as demand surges to 50 billion tons a year amid population growth and urbanisation,
This was followed by an editorial in the newspaper on May 2nd headlined “Sand”. The editorial drew attention to the observation in the UNEP report, that sand is the most exploited natural resource in the world after water but its use is largely ungoverned, meaning that it is being consumed faster than it can be replaced by geological processes that take hundreds of thousands of years. It also called for attention to be paid locally to the present extraction practices of Guyana’s sand deposits which are not limitless.
Fortunately, Guyana is blessed with significant deposits of sand inland which over the centuries has been leached and which has resulted in deposits of sand (silicon dioxide) of exceptionally high purity. Unlike all of our CARICOM neighbours and many countries internationally we do not have to depend on beach mining to provide sand for the construction industry. Indeed, Guyana’s sand finds its way into CARICOM markets for construction and for beach nourishment especially after storm events.
The editorial observes that it is unclear whether the government and the Guyana Geology and Mines Commission (GGMC) have made decisions on conserving this vital resource and monitoring exportation to resource-hungry markets and quite rightly calls for caution and the putting in place of the necessary safeguards to ensure the prudent use of our 1.5 billion tons of reserves (estimate mentioned by President Ali recently). It also comments on local efforts, so far, locally, to do just that.
The gist of the editorial, which is timely and which I wholeheartedly support, is to posit that ’‘the UNEP report should serve as an inflection point for an examination here of the state of sand extraction and what steps are required to ensure this isn’t unrestrained and unsustainable”.
I would like to take issue with what seems to be the main focus at this time for the use of this “precious” resource, mainly for the construction industry and possibly for continued export for the construction industry especially in CARICOM countries. Apart from its use for construction, sand is the feedstock for many other critical industries – fibre optics, solar energy, glass, ceramics. All of these are energy intensive but now that Guyana will soon be able to provide reliable and affordable sources of energy, investment in these areas should be considered. The pure state of Guyana’s deposits gives it an advantage.
During my tenure as Director of the Institute of Applied Science and Technology (IAST- 1980- 1990), the Institute embarked on a programme examining the possible industrial use of Guyana’s natural resources . Under this programme, samples of sand were sent to an Analytical laboratory in the USA to ascertain the quality of the resource. The report confirmed that the Guyana deposit was of exceptionally high purity and at the level of purity required for the manufacture of optical fibre!! Through a UNESCO programme we sent samples of the material to a University in Pilsen, Czechoslovakia for assessment of its suitability for the manufacture of crystal glass products. The response was that Guyana’s silica was highly suitable for the establishment of a crystal glass industry and to support their findings, they sent a set of beautifully crafted crystal glass pieces which were manufactured from the samples we sent. I still have one vase from that set in my possession.
The Institute had a state-of-the-art glass blowing facility and through a UN assisted programme developed the capacity to fabricate a range of laboratory glass equipment from test tubes, beakers, conical flasks to the more demanding pipettes, burettes and condensers. One of our lucrative revenue streams was through the services provided by the glassblowing shop especially for repairing the expensive broken condensers used in the sugar industry and all chemistry laboratories in the country. We also decided to make a kit for use in our High schools in Guyana consisting of test tubes, beakers, conical flasks, burettes and pipettes. The two latter pieces of equipment were designed for a capacity of twenty and ten millilitres respectively instead of the fifty and twenty-five millilitres equipment that was being used in local school laboratories. The thinking then was that students could learn the principles of titration using ten millilitre pipettes and 20 millilitre burettes rather than the larger counterparts in use and that this would lead to significant savings in the costs of the chemicals used which were a heavy burden on cash strapped education budgets not to mention the cost of importing the glass equipment. The carpentry shop designed and built an attractive wooded box in which the entire complement of the equipment could be packed and we had this on demonstration. Costs for large scale production of these titration kits were worked out and showed that production was feasible and would result in considerable foreign exchange savings. Try as we might we could not get take up from the education sector for this idea. I left the Institute in 1991 with the kit still an idea but with no prospect of implementation at the local level.
Very much later, when I became involved in climate change, with its focus on renewable energy, and in consultation with the University of Trinidad and Tobago we prepared a feasibility study proposal to examine the potential of utilizing Guyana’s silica deposits (silicon dioxide) to produce pure silicon, the raw material for the production of photovoltaic cells for the solar energy industry. At the time, the idea was to marry Guyana’s vast sand deposits with the cheap energy available in Trinidad and Tobago to explore the potential of a manufacturing facility that could form the basis of a regional solar energy industry. The study was never undertaken due to lack of the necessary resources. With the recent discovery of oil in the country, Guyana is now in a position to consider the potential of a Guyana based solar energy industry, making full use of its raw material base. Guyana’s silica deposits have the potential to yield greater benefit through the possible development of some of these avenues rather than through its present use, wholly in the construction industry. Guyana also had invested in a glass factory which did not survive. My own assessment apart from everything else (location, technology, energy requirements) was that the planners made a fundamental error in designing the factory to make sheet glass and that it would have been more successful if the end product was container glass, a commodity with a lucrative market in Guyana and the rest of the region. This will fit in well with the plans for agroindustry development in Guyana.
As an aside, one of the purest sources of silica for the burgeoning photovoltaic cell manufacturing industry is Rice Husk Ash (RHA), which is the residue left after the incineration of rice husk generated as a waste from the rice industry. Utilisation of these husks for the generation of energy results in the production of RHA, which is now regarded as the premium raw material for the production of the pure silica used in the manufacture of solar photovoltaic cells. The ash is also utilised as an extender for cement in the building industry. The Institute also carried out some successful research which showed that it had potential as a possible cement extender and can be used in the local building industry.
Just about this time in 1990, research at the Faculty of Technology at the University of Guyana led to a publication by A.A. Boateng and D. Skeete in the Journal, Cement and Concrete Research, on the “Incineration of rice hull for use as a cementitious material: the Guyana experience” They studied the potential of rice husk ash derived from the incineration of rice husks as an extender to imported Portland cement. They concluded that use of the rice husks generated in the rice industry could support a rural building industry through blending of the ash with Portland cement, thus significantly reducing the costs of building. In an article appearing on April 06, 2017 in the Dublin Business Wire, research and markets reported that “The global rice husk ash market is projected to reach USD 2.54 billion by 2021, at a CAGR of 5.4% from 2016 to 2021. Low manufacturing and raw material cost, and use of RHA to produce high purity silica are the key factors driving the growth of the market. The increasing use of rice husk ash instead of silica fume and fly ash in the cement and construction industry, and the high demand of RHA in the Asia-Pacific and Middle East & Africa regions are some of the key opportunities for the rice husk ash industry. By application, the silica segment of the rice husk ash market is projected to grow at the highest CAGR from 2016 to 2021. RHA has attracted the industry players as it is not only low cost but also the only known renewable source for producing silica. The use of RHA also helps the industry players in gaining carbon credits due to its renewable nature.”
With the continued expansion of the rice industry and the implementation of Guyana’s Low Carbon Development Strategy the industry will find itself in a win-win situation by utilising the husks for energy generation and utilising the ash as a cement extender in the building industry or preferably utilising it as the raw material to produce pure silicon for the solar energy industry
Indeed, this approach should be applied across our entire resource utilisation landscape. Use of our excellent granite deposits for instance should not be confined to the construction industry (buildings and infrastructure). The Institute had samples assessed by an Italian firm for their suitability to produce dimension stone – tiles, table tops etc. The results were positive and confirmed that our granite deposits are highly suitable for dimension stone production. Same applies to the forestry sector where our focus should be on value added production and a move away from the export of logs.
As we move ahead Guyana should carry out a comprehensive survey of our sand resources to determine its true extent and as suggested in the Stabroek News editorial, to put in place the necessary checks and balances to ensure that its extraction isn’t unrestrained and unsustainable. Further given its possible multiple uses Guyana should as quickly as possible examine the feasibility of multiple uses of the resource and use these results to inform and develop a national plan for the utilisation of the resource, in such a manner, that it redounds to the maximum benefit of the citizens of Guyana.
