A multifunctional plant for a sustainable reuse of marble waste toward circular economy

Abstract

The marble processing cycle involves the production of large quantities of wastes whose disposal represents an economic and environmental concern for marble companies due to the difficulty of identifying suitable landfills and the high transfer costs. In this context, the design of a sustainable industrial plant that allows the reuse of the calcium carbonate (CaCO₃) contained in the marble waste is extremely challenging. With this recognition, the main industrial applications of CaCO₃ are firstly analyzed in the present work to identify the physical–chemical properties required to CaCO₃ in these contexts. Later, different plant solutions are suggested to recover CaCO₃ from marble sludge in order to allow its use in industrial applications. The designed industrial plant includes an energy efficient drying phase, which exploits the thermal waste of the exhaust gases produced in a cogeneration section, and a subsequent milling phase. Since marble wastes currently constitute an economic burden for companies and an environmental emergency for the Public Administration, the performed technical–economic analysis shows that its recovery may represent an opportunity of sustainable development for the marble sector.