Waste solidification-stabilisation

Industrialization and urbanization developed during the 19th century and the first half of the 20th, virtually ignoring the environmental consequences of new consumption and production practices. Lifestyles became less and less "economical" in terms of the raw materials and energy consumed, and increasingly wasteful. In the second half of the 20th century, the flow of material products intensified and globalized. The materials used became "artificial", with characteristics that made it more difficult to reintegrate them into natural biogeochemical cycles. Since the late 1950s, ecological awareness has grown: demographic trends, the foreseeable scarcity of natural resources, energy crises and ecological disasters have set limits to uncontrolled industrial growth. Today, ecological concerns are present in the design of processes in all sectors of economic activity, and corporate management is increasingly integrating the environmental component. Waste management, treatment and recovery methods are at the heart of this issue, and often determine the sustainability of production or consumption methods.

Processes for the stabilization-solidification of hazardous waste have been extensively developed at the industrial stage, providing reliable economic and environmental solutions. The nuclear industry was a forerunner in this field, since it was necessary from the outset to provide an effective and safe management method for radioactive waste whose long-term harmfulness is obvious. Today, incineration is widely used to treat household waste with energy recovery. Industrial waste is also disposed of by incineration. These thermal processes generate residues: bottom ash, residues from the purification of household or industrial waste incineration fumes (REFIOM or REFIDI). Solidification using hydraulic binders stabilizes hazardous waste and produces solidified products that can be stored in specially designed sites under environmentally safe conditions (stabilized hazardous waste storage centers). The vitrification of fly ash from waste incineration has also been developed in France, leading to the possibility of recycling the solidifiates obtained.

Stabilization-solidification processes are thus an essential link in the industrial and municipal waste management chain.