1
Compiled by Dr. Joe Herbertson
June 2001
Sustainable Resource
Processing
Opportunity:
Inorganic Polymers
The Context:
•The production of Portland
cement is responsible
for the generation of 7% of anthropogenic CO2
•Metal extraction and fossil
fuel combustion
produce large volumes of alumino-silicate wastes (slags, red mud and flyash)
•Flyash and modified slags are the feedstocks for inorganic
polymers that can substitute for Portland cement, with superior properties,
eg rapid setting,
acid-proof, fire-proof
The Concept:
•Promote inorganic polymers as ‘sustainable’
substitutes for Portland cement based building or construction
applications
•Establish techno-economic criteria for optimising
metallurgical wastes as raw materials for a new industry
•Explore immediate
opportunity for red mud-flyash mixtures as commercial aggregate at
Kwinana and Gladstone
Inorganic polymers
(geopolymers, inorganic resins) are already in limited use. What is needed to extend the
application of this new class of materials is a firm underpinning of engineering
design data and scientific understanding