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US 4,859,367 AGranted
Waste solidification and disposal method
OwnerJoseph Davidovitsinventor
Life of this patent
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Abstract
The invention provides a new method for solidifying and disposing of waste. The waste is combined and mixed with an alkali-activated silico-aluminate geopolymer binder. The resulting mixture is bound together with a geopolymeric matrix. When allowed to set, it forms a hard, monolithic solid. The mixture is subjected to a suitable engineering process, such as casting or pressing, to produce a waste disposal product having superior long term stability.
Claims12
A method for toxic mine tailings disposal, comprising:
- (a) preparing a concrete mixture by adding to the toxic mine tailings a mineral binder selected from the class of alkali-activated silico-aluminate geopolymers, to form a geopolymeric matrix of the poly(sialate) (--Si--O--Al--O--) and/or poly(sialate-siloxo) (--Si--O--Al--O--Si--O--) types, providing zeolitic properties associated with long-term durability as exemplified by archaeological records;
- (b) subjecting said concrete mixture to an engineering process involving casting or pressing, to form a raw tailing disposal product;
- (c) hardening said raw tailing disposal product to form an environmentally safe disposal product associated with archaeological long-term durability.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.