From Mars to Manchester: Aled Roberts Unveils Dekiln’s Vision on the TEDx Stage | Dekiln - Creating the world's mos tsustainable tile

Last month, Dekiln’s founder and CEO, Dr Aled Roberts, took the TEDxManchester stage with over 1,700 attendees to share his transformational journey from basement experiments to launching the ground-breaking BioSintering technology that underpins Dekiln. His talk, “Lessons from Martian materials engineering”, highlights how extreme challenges and constraints shaped Dekiln’s core innovation: kiln-free, low-carbon tiles.

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‍Why Mars Inspired Dekiln 🚀

During the COVID-19 lockdowns, Aled repurposed his home basement into a makeshift laboratory. He focused on transforming lunar and martian regolith into building materials, leveraging biology - incluing blood proteins - to bind and strengthen them through low-energy processing. This daring, cross-disciplinary research laid the groundwork for what would become Dekiln’s BioSintering® process.

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Kiln-Free, Low-Carbon Tile Innovation 🔥

What sets Dekiln apart is its radical shift away from energy-intensive ceramic production. Instead of firing tiles at 850-1250 °C, BioSintering® cures recycled mineral powders and bio‑based binders at under 90 °C, achieving:

94% lower CO₂ emissions
>95% recycled content
99% less particulate pollution
Compatibility with existing tile production lines - no kilns needed

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TEDx Highlight: A “Materials Hacker” Mindset 🎤

Aled has been dubbed a "materials hacker", channeling his Martian-material mindset into real-world solutions. The speech not only explained the science but also sparked laughter with his inventive anecdotes - like taking cows to space to make cheese-based binders! 🧀
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We're over the moon with Aled's TEDx debut - watch it for yourself here and let us know what you think in the comments! 🌝