Utilization and recycling of industrial magnesite refractory waste material for removal of certain radionuclides

Increased industrialization over the last years in Egypt has resulted in an increased and uncontrolled generation of industrial hazardous waste. The current lack of management of the solid waste in Egypt has created a situation where large parts of the land (especially industrial areas) are covered by un-planned dumps of industrial wastes. Consequently, in the present study, the industrial magnesite waste produced in large quantities after production process of magnesium sulphate in Zinc Misr Factory, Egypt, was tried to be recycled. Firstly, this material has been characterized applying different analytical techniques such as infrared spectroscopy (IR), surface analyzer (BET), particle size distribution (PSD), elemental analysis by X-ray fluorescence (XRF) and X-ray diffraction (XRD). The magnesite material has been used as a source of producing aluminum, chromium, and magnesium oxides that has better chemical stability than conventional metal oxides. Secondly, utilization of magnesite material for removal of certain radionuclides was applied. Different factors affecting the removal capability such as ph, contacting time, metal concentration and particle size were systematically investigated. The overall objective was aimed to determine the feasible and economic solution to the environmental problems related to re-use of the industrial solid waste for radioactive waste management