Production of porous ceramic materials from spent fluorescent lamps

Abstract

Spent fluorescent lamps (SFL) are classified as hazardous materials in the European Waste Catalogue, which includes residues from various hi‐tech devices. The most common end‐of‐life treatment of SFL consists in the recovery of rare earth elements from the phosphor powders, with associated problems in the management of the glass residues, which are usually landfilled. This study involves the manufacturing of porous ceramics from both the coarse glass‐rich fraction and the phosphor‐enriched fraction of spent fluorescent lamps. These porous materials, realizing the immobilization of Rare Earth Elements (REEs) within a glass matrix, are suggested for application in buildings as thermal and acoustic insulators. The proposed process is characterized by: (i) alkaline activation (2.5 M or 1 M NaOH aqueous solution); (ii) pre‐curing at 75 °C; (iii) the addition of a surfactant (Triton X‐100) for foaming at high‐speed stirring; (iv) curing at 45 °C; (v) viscous flow sintering at 700 °C. All the final porous ceramics present a limited metal leaching and, in particular, the coarse glass fraction activated with 2.5 M NaOH solution leads to materials comparable to commercial glass foams in terms of mechanical properties.