New publications
Specialists have developed a new material that will maximize the safety of toxic waste
Last reviewed: 02.07.2025
All iLive content is medically reviewed or fact checked to ensure as much factual accuracy as possible.
We have strict sourcing guidelines and only link to reputable media sites, academic research institutions and, whenever possible, medically peer reviewed studies. Note that the numbers in parentheses ([1], [2], etc.) are clickable links to these studies.
If you feel that any of our content is inaccurate, out-of-date, or otherwise questionable, please select it and press Ctrl + Enter.
Ensuring the safety of toxic industrial waste has always been difficult, and every year this process becomes more and more complicated. Almost every industrial product is made from raw materials that are extracted from the earth's interior or surface. But during the manufacturing process at industrial enterprises, some of the raw materials are converted into waste that is unsuitable for further use, which often has a high level of toxicity. For example, new methods of processing secondary raw materials (aluminum, vanadium) developed by specialists lead to the emergence of new by-products that are even more toxic. In practice, devices for cleaning the exhaust of coal-fired power plants help to avoid the release of sulfur dioxide and other harmful chemicals into the atmosphere, but at the same time, such "cleaning" contributes to the emergence of new concentrated waste with a high level of acidity, which can cause significant harm to the environment. Currently, the problem of processing industrial waste, as well as its preservation, has become almost global in nature.
Experts continue to work on how to ensure maximum safety in storing toxic industrial waste that is harmful not only to the environment but also to humans.
Recently, experts from the university located in Madison, Wisconsin in the United States of America proposed their new project to solve this problem.
A group of researchers have developed a new material based on sodium bentonite (a type of clay) that will help ensure a high level of safety for storing toxic industrial waste. Sodium bentonite has previously proven its effectiveness in various environmental and ecological projects, but in its pure form, this type of clay is completely unsuitable for burying industrial waste that is highly acidic (for example, red mud, which is formed after processing aluminum).
Over the course of five years, a group of researchers conducted experiments in which polymers were incorporated into sodium bentonite in various ways to increase the clay's resistance to acidic conditions. After many unsuccessful attempts, the specialists finally managed to develop a new material that can withstand acidity levels of up to 14 pH, depending on the amount of components in the environment.
The new material is called Resistex GCL and researchers have begun producing it together with CETCO. Currently, experts are testing an improved type of material called Continuum GCL.
In addition, there is already a buyer for the new material – the world's largest aluminum producer, Alcoa. The manufacturer is using the new material in the construction of one of its storage facilities for aluminum production waste.
[