Conversion of Contaminated Solid Waste Materials (Marine Clay, Incineration Ash and Mud) to Green Building Materials

Opportunity

Incineration ash poses a major environmental hazard when sent to landfills due to the potential leaching of heavy metals into agricultural soil and underground water. Current efforts focus primarily on safe disposal rather than resource conversion. For land-scare nations like Singapore, the existing management approaches of disposing of marine clay and mud in landfills or staging grounds are not sustainable. Such challenges highlight the need for an effective and efficient resource conversion strategy.

Technology

This technology converts environmentally hazardous incineration ash, marine clay and mud into value-added green building materials. These materials stabilise heavy metal content by creating a close-pore structure with low water absorption, allowing for safe disposal after their lifespan. The process produces a range of building materials, such as lightweight aggregates, lightweight partition walls, thermal insulative panels and lightweight bricks. In particular, the lightweight aggregates have a low density (0.25–0.8 g/cm³) and low water absorption rates (< 5%).

Applications & Advantages

Main application areas include green building construction certified under the Singapore Green Label Scheme, as well as energy-efficient construction.

Advantages:

• Consumes less energy compared to traditional methods.
• Reduces the amount of solid waste disposed of in landfills by converting a variety of solid waste materials.
• Saves non-renewable natural resources by using recycled green building materials.
• Reduces waste disposal costs while producing valuable recycled materials.