Reclamation of Inorganic wastes to Artificial Lightweight Aggregates

Annually, Taiwan generates approximately 2 million tons of inorganic wastes in the form of sludge, fly ash and slug. To increase the added value of waste and maintain the increasingly insufficient supply of natural gravel, large public construction projects account for this large demand each year. future architectural trends are leading towards high-rise buildings. In light of the above, Center for Environmental, Safety and Health Technology Development, Industrial Technology Research Institute has developed the technology of manufacturing cold-bonding, sintering and bloating types of lightweight aggregates with a specific gravity ranging between 0.7~1.7, water absorption rate < 30%. The lightweight aggregate verified by physical property tests can be used as a substitute for the natural aggregate, which generally appears in replacing gravel in concrete, soundproofing and heat insulation materials. Doing so would not only moderate waste disposal problems, but also achieve the goal of resource recovery.