Abstract
Investigation of recycling and reutilizing capability of industrial wastes is essential to attend the vision of sustainable waste management. One such industrial waste is cupola slag, a by-product of grey cast iron. This slag mainly ends up in dump yards or landfills due to a lack of proper attention. This article aims to analyse available previous literature to understand every possible door for reutilizing cupola slag to attain the goal of sustainable waste management. Primary importance is given to the utilization of cupola slag in the building industry as partial or full substitution of fine and coarse natural aggregates as well as cement for making concrete. The reusability has been analysed by extensive investigations on microstructure, chemical and physical properties of cupola slag starting from its origin. Very few analyses of the utilization of cupola slag can be found in different sectors such as for making glass ceramics, synthesizing zeolite and phosphorus-based fertilizers, making ceramic foams, road construction and use as artificial pozzolan. The extensive analysis not only opened a huge opportunity to ensure reuse of industrial waste, i.e. cupola slag but also utilization can provide some added advantages of being eco-friendly. A sustainable future can be assured by more rigorous study and implementation of methods for the reuse of cupola slag.
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Acknowledgements
The authors wholeheartedly acknowledge the Department of Science & Technology and Biotechnology, Government of West Bengal (Memo No.: 1698(Sanc.)/ST/P/S&T/6G-3/2019 dated 06.02.2020) sponsored project “Reuse of cupola slag–an attempt for sustainable development”, of Jadavpur University for providing financial support for the research work.
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Chakravarty, S., Haldar, P., Nandi, T. et al. Cupola slag reutilization for sustainable waste management: review and economic analysis. Int. J. Environ. Sci. Technol. 20, 1169–1184 (2023). https://doi.org/10.1007/s13762-021-03574-x
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s13762-021-03574-x