Chemical Resistance of Glass Composite Materials Made From Incinerated Scheduled Waste Slag and SLS Waste Glass

Abstract

Incineration of scheduled waste and landfilling of the incineration residue (Bottom Slag) is extensively practised in Malaysia as a treatment method for scheduled waste. Land site disposal of Bottom Slag (BS) may lead to environmental health issues and reduces the availability of land to sustain the nation’s development. This research aims in producing Glass Composite Material (GCM) incorporating BS and Soda Lime Silicate (SLS) waste glass as an alternative method for land site disposal and as an effort for recycling SLS waste glass. SLS waste glass originates from the urban waste has been a waste stream in most of the nation whereby the necessity for recycling is in high priority. Batches of powder mixture is formulated with 30 wt. % to 70 wt. % of BS powder and SLS waste glass powder for GCM sintering. The powder mixtures of BS and SLS waste glass is compacted by uniaxial pressing and sintered at 800°C with heating rate of 2°C/min and 1 hour soaking time into tiles of 18mm×18mm. The GCM porosity and water absorption increases as the BS waste loading increases. Meanwhile, its bulk density increases as the BS waste loading decreases. The GCM tiles made from BS 30 wt. % and 70 wt. % SLS waste glass are determined to have the lowest water absorption of 1.17 % and porosity percentage of 2.2 % with the highest bulk density of 1.88 g/cm3. It was also found is found that the chemical resistance of these GCM tiles is classified as ULA (No visible Effect) and UHA (No visible Effect) after 5 day immersions in low and high concentration of acid and alkali solution; respectively (determined using MS ISO10545-13:2001(Ceramic Tile: Determination of chemical resistance) test. However, the chemical resistance is weak upon increased duration of 12 immersion days where severe corrosion effects on both surface tiles in low and high concentration chemical solutions. The penetration of chemical in attacking the samples are related to the presence of pores. Hence, further work should have aimed to reduce the amount of porosity presence in the produced tiles.