The world is running out of sand and COVID-19 vaccine production could be compromised

Sand is a fundamental part of the construction industry, used in concrete and glass, making it indispensable in homes and technology. But it is also essential in the manufacture of vaccines. How? ‘Or’ What? The vials or small vials filled with antidote are made from the treated sand and made into glass..

Experts believe that demand for glass vials will increase by 2 billion over the next two years. And that makes sense, as humanity faces the challenge of making billions of inoculants against COVID-19. After water, sand is the most consumed raw material in the world– Used to make glass, concrete, asphalt and even silicone chips used in high tech products.

The problem is that the world faces a growing shortage of sand, with less than 1,000 sand and gravel mines in the United States, the main country providing this resource.

In the construction sector, some 50,000 million tonnes of sand per year.

An impending shortage could hamper production of a wide variety of products, from smartphones to office buildings. But what is even more concerning is that it would delay the production of the billions of glass vials needed to bring the coronavirus vaccine to different populations across the world.

Shortages of sand, gravel and crushed stone have persisted for most of the past decade, driven by the growing development of buildings and the demand for smartphones and other personal technologies using screens.

Pascal Peduzzi, a climate scientist from the United Nations Environment Program (UNEP) lamented during a recent webinar hosted by an expert group called Chatham House: “We just thought the sand is everywhere“.

“We never imagined we would run out of sand but it is starting to happen in some placesPeduzzi added, as he went on: “It’s about anticipating what might happen in the next decade because, if we don’t look to the future, if we don’t anticipate, we we will have massive problems on the supply of sand but also on the planning of the territory “.

The official, who is director of UNEP’s Global Resources Information Database (GRID) in Geneva, said panic wouldn’t help, “but it’s time to take a look and change our perception of sand“. Chatham House, also known as the Royal Institute of International Affairs, is a London-based, non-profit, non-governmental organization which described efforts to improve the management of sand resources as “uneven”.

This is due in part to unique geological and geographic features, but also to differences in local manifestations of “sand challenge“, The national and regional demand for sand resources, as well as the capacities to apply or implement assessment procedures for best practices, extractive practices, management and restoration requirements, the entity said in a statement. communicated on its website.

According to UNEP, around 40 to 50 billion tonnes of sand are used each year in the construction sector alone.

This is a 300% increase from just two decades ago, and it would take two years for all the rivers in the world to replace it.. “This trend is expected to continue as demand continues to grow due to urbanization, population growth and infrastructure development trends,” according to GRID’s Global Sand Observatory Initiative.

One of the problems is that while deserts make up a third of the planet, the desert sand is too smooth and round to be used in construction. And since no one wants a sand mine in their backyard, mining efforts are focused on more fragile environments – rivers, coasts and seabed – often in places like India and China.

But this exploitation is already having a severe impact on their ecosystems and, as demand continues to exceed rate of natural replacement of rock erosion by water and wind, even GRID warns of growing environmental and sustainability issues.

Advocates call on companies and governments to address sand shortages, set global standards and viable alternatives, while doing more to protect vulnerable habitats. Researchers have also started to look for alternatives to sand, including volcanic ash, agricultural waste, and fly ash, a byproduct of burning coal.. We also work on silica sand, made of tiny quartz granules.

“But the construction industry is very conservative,” he said. The world Susan Bernal, materials scientist at the University of Leeds. “To use these new environmentally friendly alternative cements, or alternative aggregates, we have to meet a lot of standards to make sure that, for example, if we are building a house, it is safe enough for people to live in.», He clarified.

With sand being the main component of glass, there was also a global glass shortage at least in 2015.

Real estate developers sometimes have to wait months before they can install windows in half-finished skyscrapers. The delays can be so big and frustrating that, for example, the development company behind Hudson Yards got creative and built their own glass factory in Pennsylvania instead of waiting.

The lack of glass is of particular concern during the pandemic, given the billions of vials and syringes needed for vaccines to reach the world’s arms.. The medical glass industry was starting to catch up with demand in 2020, but the pandemic and the subsequent vaccine launch significantly delayed production processes.

Stevanato Group, an Italian vial maker, told Pharma Manufacturing that global vial demand will increase to 2 billion over the next two years.

Even though the vaccine is loaded into 10-dose vials, said vaccine expert James Robinson, “hundreds of millions of vials are still needed for this pandemic alone.”

In the United States, only three companies, Corning, Schott and Nipro Pharma Corporation, manufacture most of the pharmaceutical glass tubes needed for vials and syringes.

New manufacturing facilities are expensive, and there is great competition for the type of angular sand needed to make glass.

Janssen, a division of Johnson & Johnson, “has already pre-ordered 250 million vials, and that might be all there is.”. “We are trying to get another 200 million,” said one of its spokespersons.

Executives from the three glass pharmaceutical companies say that, amid a global health crisis, they are working together to meet demand.

“The industry is putting aside the competitive spirit,” Brendan Mosher, CEO of Corning, told Pharma Manufacturing. “We feel more than ever that everyone is in this fight together.”

KEEP READING: