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Not suitable for beaches but it's probably still suitable for industrial use, which is much, much larger than the beaches. It's just that it's not yet cost effe

Not suitable for beaches but it's probably still suitable for industrial use, which is much, much larger than the beaches. It's just that it's not yet cost effective to haul sand halfway around the world

mhb 11y ago
Dessert Sand And sprinkle on Baked Alaska for a delightful extra crunch!
abakker 11y ago
Unfortunately, desert sand is specifically not useful for one of the largest industrial uses: Concrete. The weathering of sand in a wind-blown environment reduces the sharp edges and makes it significantly less strong. The ideal in concrete sand is as sharp and as new as possible. It is also ideal that it be dust-free, since dust and other very fine particulates also negatively effect strength.
distances 11y ago
Surprisingly, not really even that. As pointed out in the Wired article The Deadly Global War for Sand [1]: "Desert sand generally doesn’t work for construction; shaped by wind rather than water, desert grains are too round to bind together well." [1] http://www.wired.com/2015/03/illegal-sand-mining/ http://www.wired.com/2015/03/illegal-sand-mining/
stephengillie 11y ago
It's too bad the factories are stationary on land and not mobile. If factories were built on large boats, maybe old container boats, they could just move closer to the resource. It would still be very expensive to move such a bulk, but the costs would be known and could be evaluated against the other costs and profits involved. To extend the idea, space travel might simplify this - if we build factories on very small asteroids, we could possibly move the whole asteroid across the solar system, to be closer to a resource.
analog31 11y ago
In some uses it depends on what the sand is made of. Specifically, silicon dioxide (silica or quartz) is a chemical feedstock for the making of cement. I don't know what minerals compose desert sand.

mhb 11y ago

Dessert Sand And sprinkle on Baked Alaska for a delightful extra crunch!

abakker 11y ago

Unfortunately, desert sand is specifically not useful for one of the largest industrial uses: Concrete. The weathering of sand in a wind-blown environment reduces the sharp edges and makes it significantly less strong. The ideal in concrete sand is as sharp and as new as possible. It is also ideal that it be dust-free, since dust and other very fine particulates also negatively effect strength.

distances 11y ago

Surprisingly, not really even that. As pointed out in the Wired article The Deadly Global War for Sand [1]: "Desert sand generally doesn’t work for construction; shaped by wind rather than water, desert grains are too round to bind together well." [1] http://www.wired.com/2015/03/illegal-sand-mining/ http://www.wired.com/2015/03/illegal-sand-mining/

stephengillie 11y ago

It's too bad the factories are stationary on land and not mobile. If factories were built on large boats, maybe old container boats, they could just move closer to the resource. It would still be very expensive to move such a bulk, but the costs would be known and could be evaluated against the other costs and profits involved. To extend the idea, space travel might simplify this - if we build factories on very small asteroids, we could possibly move the whole asteroid across the solar system, to be closer to a resource.

analog31 11y ago

In some uses it depends on what the sand is made of. Specifically, silicon dioxide (silica or quartz) is a chemical feedstock for the making of cement. I don't know what minerals compose desert sand.