- Italcementi Group

The use of TX Aria^® in a south Paris street has won Ciment Calcia the “Les Rocs d’or” award at the 12th Fimbacte Festival, an event that promotes innovation and sustainable development in construction materials for the “Projects and Realizations” sector.

Under a program to reduce urban atmospheric pollution, the Haute Seine General Council set up a six-month trial - from April to October 2007 - to pave a road with TX Aria® cement.The trial is an important step in the fight against urban pollution: not only as the first initiative of its kind in Paris, but also because another goal was to limit the impact of transport-related pollution.

Every day approximately 13,000 vehicles use the Rue Jean Bleuzen in Vanves (south Paris). The road is a departmental thoroughway with sufficient exposure to sunlight, and has buildings on both sides acting as cross-wind barriers.These atmospheric and logistic conditions ensure optimal performance of the Italcementi patented titanium dioxide active principle in TX Aria®, which eliminates pollutants.

In the presence of coverings treated with the TX Active® active principle, atmospheric pollutants decompose as a result of photocatalysis, a natural phenomenon whereby a substance known as a photocatalyzer exploits natural or artificial light to induce a powerful oxidizing process that transforms harmful organic and inorganic substances (nitric oxides, fine particles, volatile organic compounds, carbon monoxide and ozone) into absolutely innocuous substances.

The trial divided the road into two sections. An experimental section paved with cement “treated” with TX Aria®, and a section paved with “untreated” cement. This enabled the reduction in pollutants by TX Aria® to be measured.The example offered by Vanves could be followed by many other towns to promote urban development policies that take account of the need to safeguard the quality of life in the city.

The photocatalytic cements are patented products based on ten years of research by the Italcementi Group Technical Center.