Utilization of Stone Cutting Solid Waste for Lime and Calcium Carbonate Production
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Date
2016-06-02
Authors
Asi, Dalia
Alzaben, Hadeel
Alzaro, Mohammad
Hijjawi, Tha’er
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Abstract
Stone cutting industry considered as one of the most important industries in Palestine that significantly contributes to the GDP. During the cutting process, water is used to cool down the sows and facilitate the cutting of the stones. The fine stone particles resulted from the cutting process are collected in the water. The fine stone particles are then separated from the wastewater using sedimentation pools or flocculation-sedimentation tanks. The resulting solid waste is then disposed in open fields, roadside and in the sewage and agricultural land leading to several environmental and health problems to human and agriculture.
The objective of this study is to explore the possibility of converting the solid waste form the stone cutting industry into lime, and utilize the solid waste as it is (i.e. calcium carbonate) after some treatment in other industry as paints and artificial stone. Samples of the solid waste were collected from different stone cutting plants and characterized. The solid waste was thermally treated to produce lime which was used to produce paint and artificial stone. Chemical characterization of the solid waste as a calcium carbonate and the lime showed that the solid waste consist of approximately 98% calcium carbonate which is similar to the that present in the commercial calcium carbonate imported from Jordan. For the lime produced in the current study, the concentration of (Ca(OH)2) was approximately 97% which is very close to the that in commercial lime. The solid waste was used to replace the calcium carbonate in paints after being screened. The results showed that the quality of the paint is good and similar to the paint produced by commercial calcium carbonate. Addition of lime or limestone to the recipe of artificial stones showed that these ingredients can be successfully added to artificial stones without losing their mechanical properties. This would consequently reduce the cost of the artificial stones and make them more attractive to the customers.
The main conclusion of this study is that the stone cutting solid waste can be potentially utilized for calcium carbonate and lime production giving great environmental benefits and positively contribute to the local Palestinian economy.
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