Potential of tungsten tailings as glass raw materials

Abstract

Glasses from different types of tungsten mine tailings were obtained and studied to determine their ability to be used as raw materials of commercial glass. Tailings of granitic composition from Barruecopardo, of calc-silicate wastes from Morille, and of schists and quartz from Panasqueira, were used as raw materials. The addition of CaCO3 and NaCO3 was necessary for the manufacture of the glass. Samples were characterised by XRF, XRD, HSM and DTA-TG. Furthermore, the expansion coefficient, Vickers microhardness and leaching properties were measured. The results show that all the tungsten mine tailings used were suitable for the manufacture of commercial glass, with the addition of calcium and soda. The calc-silicate tailing needs less additive content to produce a glass. Also, they present lower workability temperatures and higher durability. Glasses obtained from all the tested tailings retain the potentially toxic elements in their structure and prevents the environmental pollution.

The Use of Tailings to Make Glass as an Alternative for Sustainable Environmental Remediation: The Case of Osor, Catalonia, Spain

“…The Pb content in the G90-10 glass was 4437 ppm, from this, 0.230 ppm was removed during the leaching test, which represents 0.0005 wt.% of the total amount of Pb in this glass (Table 6). These results indicate the high stability of the toxic elements in the glassy structure, as has been reported in other glasses made from tailings [13,19,51] and in industrial waste products [53]. The refractive index, n, of both glasses produced was 1.54, which is similar than that of typical soda-lime-silica commercial glasses, with an n of 1.51 to 1.52, and slightly higher than in vitreous glasses because cations fill the interstices in the network [45].…”

“…Hue values of the Osor glasses were 93.18 and 110.32 • ; values between 90 and 180 • indicate yellow-green tonality. In Figure 9, these parameters are shown together with others obtained from glasses produced using tailings from different origins, whose characteristics were previously published [13,19,51]. Comparison of the colour parameters from these glasses indicates that tailing glasses usually show medium or dark colour and a low purity.…”

Variability Study of Bond Work Index and Grindability Index on Various Critical Metal Ores

“…In the case of Ta ores, two different samples were received from Penouta Mine (Spain), one from the open pit and the other one from the tailings pond of the former Tin mining activities in that mine. Characterization studies of those samples have been previously published [36,37]. It must be pointed out that, in the particular case of Barruecopardo mine, two different samples were taken from different heaps.…”

Incorporation of calcium in glasses: A key to understand the vitrification of sewage sludge

“…55 Ca-rich wastes are good candidates for vitrification and subsequent glass-ceramic processing as seen in products such as Sital slag, 56 cupola slag blast, 57 blast furnace slag, 58 tin tailings, 59 molybdenum tailings, 60 and tungsten tailings. 61,62 The objective of this study is to simulate the vitrification of a sewage sludge and basalt mixture using Ca-enriched basalts. We describe the glass-forming range, structure, thermal behavior, and crystallization and present the effect of chemical composition in microhardness and chemical durability.…”