Chemical and mineralogical characterisation of cutting process sludge

PETER VAN STRAATEN

Dr. Annita Colombo*, Dr. Annalisa Tunesi*, Dr. Valentina Barberini**, Dr. Lucia Galimberti*, Dr. Alessandro Cavallo* *Department of Geological Sciences and Geotechnologies, University of Milan Bicocca - www.geo.unimib.it **Department of Earth Sciences Ardito Desio, University of Milan

ABSTRACT

The sludge produced through the sawing and working of stone is still considered an inert waste product. Once it has satisfied the required criteria for acceptance, it is given to authorised waste dumps (D.M. 03/08/2005). The first fundamental step towards evaluating its possible reutilisation is to find out its chemical and mineralogical composition and assess any possible compositional variation in time. In order to do this, and as part of the PIC INTERREG III A project, a systematic sampling was carried out with 11 firms (9 of which are located in the Verbano Cusio Ossola area and 2 in the Canton Ticino). 2 samples a month were systematically collected for 6 - 8 months from each firm; the two samples from each month were then mixed in order to obtain one sample per firm to analyse every month. The chemical and mineralogical composition of the sludge was then established; on the one hand there were obvious connections between the make-up of the sludge and that of the stone from which it came; on the other hand, significant differences from the original rock were also highlighted. This was found to be due to the different type of processing carried out by each firm.

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