Characterization of industrial wastes, glass and ceramic wool

Ceramic fibers are characterized by their light weight, high degree of purity, low heat storage, low thermal conductivity, thermal shock resistance and superior corrosion resistance in high-temperature environments. In addition, they can be produced extensively in substitution to all materials used in the coating of almost all heating equipment as well as contributing to the reduction of energy consumption. Such characteristics make them ideal in the coating of distributors, mufflers, heating ovens, among others, as highly demanded by the mining and metallurgical industries, among others. After use in the process of industrial production, generated waste will lose their insulation capacity and thus require safe disposal. The present work focuses specifically on ceramic and glass wools aiming at an evaluation of their recycling prospect of incorporation into cement mortars and concrete. This residues were pulverized and displayed similar to 30 mu m average particle size. The scan electronic microscopy (SEM) presented elongated, thin and straight particles, which is very different than flocular structure of cement. The X-rays diffraction revealed amorphous structure for glass wool and crystalline structure for ceramics wool. The chemical analysis showed high concentrations of Al2O3 and silica in both residues, with higher percentage of calcium oxide in glass wool.