The glass technology - a possibility of solving recycling tasks

On the one hand, the glass industry utilizes cullet resulting from own technologies although it also uses more and more foreign cullet of a suitable composition. On the other hand however, the earth's crust consists to a large extent of silicates with a high portion of safely combined heavy-metal oxides Hence, there is a possibility which suggests itself namely to immobilize problematic constituents in residual substances by way of vitrification. This is successfully achieved already with the slags in incinerating plants. However, the aim should not be to put these waste products on the disposal site, but to produce, by the vitrification of residual substances, such materials and products that can be sold on the market. In this lecture it is shown that it is possible to manufacture gamma- and beta-ray-absorbing glass products out of end-of-life picture ruber after on appropriate processing of the glass constituents The new products, which can be compact products, glass-fibre reinforced plastics or also glass silk textiles, fulfil the eluate norms. The manufacturing process guarantees that the resulting material is non-carcinogenic. Furthermore, there is also the possibility of making new decorative products for the building industry or also industrial glass products out of polluted flat glass cullet and residues of the preparation of dolomite. A partial crystallization supports technical applications in the high-temperature range The application of the glass technologies to the recycling of residual substances containing iron oxides entails a number of more important problems concerning the shaping and the cooling processes. The lecture also presents some possible solutions and product ideas.