Desert sand mix points to new path for greener concrete

by Robert Schreiber
Berlin, Germany (SPX) Feb 02, 2026

Concrete is the most widely used building material in the world and relies on vast quantities of suitable sand, but common sources such as crushed rock and river sand are becoming scarce and cause major environmental disturbance when they are extracted. Researchers at the Norwegian University of Science and Technology (NTNU) and the University of Tokyo are now investigating whether the huge reserves of fine desert sand, which cannot be used in traditional concrete, can be turned into a useful construction material.

The team, led by NTNU postdoctoral fellow Ren Wei, has developed a prototype material they call botanical sand concrete or botanical sandcrete. The concept combines fine desert sand with small pieces of wood and other plant based additives and then uses heat and pressure to bind the mix into solid elements. The approach aims to tap into local sand resources that are currently considered useless while reducing the demand for sand produced by crushing rock or dredging rivers.

In laboratory work at the University of Tokyo, the researchers tested many processing routes to understand how the material behaves. They varied temperature, pressure, pressing time, mixing ratios and sand type and then measured strength and density for each set of conditions. The experiments showed that desert sand can work well in this pressed system and that the resulting botanical sandcrete can reach strengths suitable for paving stones used on pavements and walkways.

The study, reported under the title "Botanical sandcrete: An environment-friendly alternative way to the mass utilization of fine (desert) sand," also compares versions of the material made with desert sand and other sand sources. The results indicate that fine grained desert material, which fails as an aggregate in conventional concrete, can function as a core ingredient when combined with biomass and compacted correctly. The researchers see this as a potential way to relieve pressure on conventional sand supplies while also dealing with sand related challenges in desert regions.

If scaled up, botanical sandcrete could help cut back on the need to crush mountains and excavate river beds for construction sand, thereby avoiding some of the most intrusive impacts on landscapes and ecosystems. It could also promote more local production of building components, since the process relies on simple pressing and heating steps that in principle can be set up close to desert sand resources. However, the researchers stress that the material still needs to be tested under a wider range of service conditions.

One open question is how botanical sandcrete will perform in colder climates and under long term weathering outdoors. Ren Wei notes that the group currently sees indoor applications as the first realistic use cases, with outdoor use in regions such as Norway requiring further development and durability testing. Even so, the work points to a possible solution for what the researchers describe as a global paradox, where the construction industry continues to crush rock for sand while vast desert areas remain covered by sand that has so far been seen as unusable.

Ren Wei also emphasizes that any large scale environmental benefit will depend on keeping transport distances low. To avoid replacing one environmental problem with another, desert sand based products should be made and used close to the sand source, rather than being shipped around the world. With that constraint in mind, the team suggests that botanical sandcrete could become part of a new generation of sustainable building materials that exploit locally available resources and reduce the climate footprint of construction.

Research Report:Botanical sandcrete: An environment-friendly alternative way to the mass utilization of fine (desert) sand