Innovative research approaches to gypsum recycling

As part of climate action measures in Germany, the increased use of renewable energies and the end of coal-fired power generation are planned. A consequence of the necessary phase-out of fossil fuels, however, is the decline in the availability of by-products of coal-fired power generation, which can be seen from the availability of industrially produced gypsum. With the loss of gypsum from flue gas desulphurization plants (FGD gypsum), more than half of the quantity of raw materials used in the gypsum industry will no longer be available in future. With its partners from science and industry across Germany and on local state level within the framework of research projects, the Nordhausen University of Applied Sciences is looking for approaches to close the growing gypsum gap. In the WIR! alliance "Gypsum recycling as an opportunity for the Southern Harz region", which is coordinated by the university, projects along the gypsum material cycle are being pursued. The research alliance "Resource management and sustainable construction" [2], an alliance of Thuringian research institutes and universities, is also addressing the resource saving handling and use of gypsum. The intensive research activities on gypsum as a resource form the basis for improving the resource -saving use of this raw material in future and offer the opportunity to safeguard the protection of the gypsum karst landscape and preserve regional value creation in the Southern Harz region.