Peter Gunning

Accelerated carbonation treatment of industrial wastes

The disposal of industrial waste presents major logistical, financial and environmental issues. Technologies that can reduce the hazardous properties of wastes are urgently required. In the present work, a number of industrial wastes arising from the cement, metallurgical, paper, waste disposal and energy industries were treated with accelerated carbonation. In this process carbonation was effected by exposing the waste to pure carbon dioxide gas. The paper and cement wastes chemically combined with up to 25% by weight of gas. The reactivity of the wastes to carbon dioxide was controlled by their constituent minerals, and not by their elemental composition, as previously postulated. Similarly, microstructural alteration upon carbonation was primarily influenced by mineralogy. Many of the thermal wastes tested were classified as hazardous, based upon regulated metal content and pH. Treatment by accelerated carbonation reduced the leaching of certain metals, aiding the disposal of many as stable non-reactive wastes. Significant volumes of carbon dioxide were sequestrated into the accelerated carbonated treated wastes.

Production of lightweight aggregate from industrial waste and carbon dioxide

The concomitant recycling of waste and carbon dioxide emissions is the subject of developing technology designed to close the industrial process loop and facilitate the bulk-re-use of waste in, for example, construction. The present work discusses a treatment step that employs accelerated carbonation to convert gaseous carbon dioxide into solid calcium carbonate through a reaction with industrial thermal residues. Treatment by accelerated carbonation enabled a synthetic aggregate to be made from thermal residues and waste quarry fines. The aggregates produced had a bulk density below 1000 kg/m(3) and a high water absorption capacity. Aggregate crushing strengths were between 30% and 90% stronger than the proprietary lightweight expanded clay aggregate available in the UK. Cast concrete blocks containing the carbonated aggregate achieve compressive strengths of 24 MPa, making them suitable for use with concrete exposed to non-aggressive service environments. The energy intensive firing and sintering processes traditionally required to produce lightweight aggregates can now be augmented by a cold-bonding, low energy method that contributes to the reduction of green house gases to the atmosphere.

Enhancement of accelerated carbonation of alkaline waste residues by ultrasound

The continuous growth of anthropogenic CO2 emissions into the atmosphere and the disposal of hazardous wastes into landfills present serious economic and environmental issues. Reaction of CO2 with alkaline residues or cementitius materials, known as accelerated carbonation, occurs rapidly under ambient temperature and pressure and is a proven and effective process of sequestering the gas. Moreover, further improvement of the reaction efficiency would increase the amount of CO2 that could be permanently sequestered into solid products. This paper examines the potential of enhancing the accelerated carbonation of air pollution control residues, cement bypass dust and ladle slag by applying ultrasound at various water-to-solid (w/s) ratios. Experimental results showed that application of ultrasound increased the CO2 uptake by up to four times at high w/s ratios, whereas the reactivity at low water content showed little change compared with controls. Upon sonication, the particle size of the waste residues decreased and the amount of calcite precipitates increased. Finally, the sonicated particles exhibited a rounded morphology when observed by scanning electron microscopy.