Circular Matters and StoneCycling, companies already established in the building materials industry, have unveiled a new series of tiles and slabs produced using corn straw, one of the world’s most abundant agricultural waste materials. The biodegradable wall covering — designed for indoor use only at the moment — is envisioned as a more sustainable alternative to ceramic tiles for interior walls or plastic laminates.
CornWall, according to the manufacturers, is derived from more than 99 percent renewable and organic sources, and is created at low temperatures using mainly solar energy and emits less carbon dioxide in production than was captured by the corn plant during its growth.
The technology behind CornWall was invented by Circular Matters, a start-up company born in a lab at Belgium’s KU Leuven University, where founder Pieter Dondeyne and his team found a way to process plants to enhance their natural biopolymers and create durable materials. The production process begins with discarded sheaves that are harvested, dried and ground into biomass. This material is then mixed with other agricultural wastes, binders and pigments and pressed into a slab at a relatively low temperature of 120 to 150 degrees. As a final step, a thin layer is applied to the tiles for water resistance.
Currently, CornWall is available in a basic range of six colors and two sizes, developed in collaboration with Dutch design studio Studio Nina van Bart. The company’s first experiment was WasteBasedBrick, composed of 60 percent waste, used by Dutch architects Nina Aalbers and Ferry in 't Veld of Architectuur Maken to build their house in Rotterdam.
