Journal of Environmental Chemical Engineering 3 (2015) 2611–2618

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Journal of Environmental Chemical Engineering

journal homepage: www.elsevier.com/locate/jece

Hazardous phosphor-gypsum chemical waste as a principal

component in environmentally friendly construction materials
Vsévolod A. Mymrin* , Kirill P. Alekseev, André Nagalli, Rodrigo E. Catai, Cezar A. Romano
Federal Technological University of Parana, St. Deputado Heitor de Alencar Furtado, 4900 Campus Curitiba, CEP 81280-340 Curitiba, Paraná, Brazil

A R T I C L E I N F O A B S T R A C T

Article history: Phosphor-gypsum (PG), lime production and gold mining wastes were used to fabricate solid bricks. The
Received 20 November 2014 PG waste had a high content of heavy metals and a pH value near 13. The purposes of this research were to
Accepted 8 February 2015 develop new composites from these wastes; to research the physicochemical processes of developed
Available online 4 May 2015
materials structure formation. The representative samples were supplied by local Brazilian plants. The PG
waste had a high content of heavy metals and a pH value near 13. The chemical and mineralogical
Keywords: compositions of the raw and final materials were studied by complex of complementary methods: XRD,
Phosphor-gypsum waste
XRF, SEM, EDS, AAS and LAMMA methods. Developed materials exhibited axial strengths of 8.3 MPa on
Lime production waste
Chemical interaction
the 3rd curing day and of 13.7 MPa on the 365th day. After 28 days, the water resistance coefficient was
New compositions 0.95, the water absorption ranged from 9.2% to 17.5%, the shrinkage was 0.75% and the leaching and
Construction materials solubility levels of heavy metals were very low. These values meet the demands of Brazilian materials like
Environment protection bricks, blocks, etc. It was determined, that mainly amorphous new formations are responsible for the
materials strengthening. The biggest benefit of the developed materials produced at the industrial level is
the environmental protection.
ã 2015 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Introduction
Industrial production processes and numerous human activi-
ties share at least two characteristics: the waste of raw materials
and of energy, which generally result in the generation of a
considerable amount of wastes. John [1] described the utilization
of a variety of industrial wastes in civil engineering applications
and their influence on the construction quality.
The production of phosphoric acid (P2O5) from natural
phosphate rock using the wet process results in an industrial
byproduct called phosphor-gypsum (PG) [2]. Approximately 5 tons
of PG is generated per ton of phosphoric acid produced, and the
amount of PG generated worldwide is estimated to be approxi-
mately 280 Mt/year. Much of this waste is highly beneficial for crop
production as fertilizer substitutes and soil ameliorants [3]. Up to
15% of the PG produced worldwide is used to create building
materials, as a soil amendment, and to produce Portland cement
[2,4]. The reuse of this waste is discussed in terms of both its
agricultural benefits and the requirements for analyses required
* Corresponding author. Tel.: +55 41 3279 4518; fax: +55 41 3232 2568.
E-mail addresses: seva6219@gmail.com, almaz.mymrina@gmail.com
(V.A. Mymrin).
for its monitoring [3]. The use of PG in road building applications is
based on technical, economic, and ecological criteria [5].
Youqiang [6] published a review of 24 Chinese literature reports
of consumers that used large amounts of PG to produce blocks,
boards, standard bricks, cementing materials, high-strength
gypsum powder, ecological wall materials and other new building
materials, sulfuric acid and cement, and to manufacture potassium
sulfate using a two-step technique, among others.
The potential of using PG with fly ash and lime in the
construction industry was investigated [7–9]. Shen [10] prepared a
new type of binder with an optimum formulation, which consisted
of 8–12% modified lime, 18–23% PG and 65–74% fly ash. Beretka
et al. [11] reviewed the main sources, properties and uses of
phosphor-gypsum, blast-furnace slag and fly ash and the
possibility of their utilization. When heated at 1000
C, PG
transforms to phosphate, the fluoride–anhydrite impurities
become inert, and anhydrite cement is produced [12]. Stout
et al. [13] investigated the possibility of converting water-soluble
phosphorus to less-soluble forms with lime or calcium-containing
coal combustion byproducts to reduce the release of soil
phosphorus in surface runoff.
Nayak et al. [14] studied the influence of PG when used as a
calcium supplement in agriculture as fertilizer on the soil
physicochemical properties, bacterial and fungal counts and

http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.jece.2015.02.027
2213-3437/ ã 2015 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.
2612 V.A. Mymrin et al. / Journal of Environmental Chemical Engineering 3 (2015) 2611–2618

activities of soil enzymes. Guo et al. [15] studied the melting and
decomposition behaviors of PG to produce sulfuric acid. Garcia-
Dias et al. [16] developed a new type of phosphogypsum–sulfur
polymer cement (PG–SPC) for use in the manufacturing of building
materials with uniaxial strength until 62 MPa.
Mining activities, including gold mining, involve the removal of
topsoil, which leaves behind gold mining waste (GMW) and other
materials after the extraction process [17]. In addition to being
used to refill ore extraction sites, GMW can be reused in civil
construction applications.
Research in northern Vietnam to obtain new materials using
industrial wastes employed lime production waste (LPW) in
powder form mixed with low-quality Portland cement to produce
a cement composite, which resulted in a high-performance
material [18]. A method was developed to utilize LPW, demolition
wastes [19] and other types of wastes [20] as binders in the
production of cement.
The increase in the production of PG and the need for
increasingly large storage areas have led to a considerable need
for the development of new economically and environmentally
attractive methods to recycle this industrial waste. A review of the
literature on the use of PG indicates that the main applications of
PG still remain in agriculture, cement production and in the
construction industry, which is the object of this study.
Therefore, the objectives of this study were as follows:
(1) Avoid the pollution of air, soils and groundwater by highly
alkaline PG waste by developing new economically attractive
composites of three types of industrial wastes with a maximum
content of PG as the principal component combined with gold
mining waste (GMW) and lime production waste (LPW) as a binder
to produce construction materials whose mechanical properties
meet the requirements of Brazilian technical standards. (2) Study
the physicochemical processes involved in the formation of the
structures of the developed materials during open air curing and
measure their mechanical properties. (3) Develop technologies for
the production of construction materials at the laboratory scale.
These objectives are consistent with the third paragraph of the
Twelve Principles [21] of Green Chemistry (Less Hazardous
Chemical Syntheses): “Wherever practicable, synthetic methods
should be designed to use and generate substances that possess
little or no toxicity to human health and the environment”.
Materials and methods
Materials
To achieve the above objectives, the following experimental
procedures were performed: collection, preparation and characteri-
zation of the wastes; definition of the compositions of the mixtures;
and fabrication and testing of the mechanical and physicochemical
properties of test specimens (TSs) during their strengthening.
All samples of industrial wastes used as components in this
work were obtained from enterprises in Brazil. The PG sample was
supplied by a phosphoric fertilizer plant. The amount of this waste
in the industrial dumps of this fertilizer plant is roughly estimated
to be 60,000,000 tons, and this plant annually produces
used spectrometer of X-Rays Fluorescence Philips/PANalytical
model PW2400.
The studies of mineralogical composition by powder method
were done by X-Rays Diffractometer Philips, model PW1830, with
monochromatic wavelength lCu-Ka, at 2u range of 2–70
.
Morphological structures – by scanning electron microscopy
(SEM) on FEI Quanta 200 LV; wet samples of raw materials were
dried in a vacuum unit. Chemical micro analyses were determined
by method of energy dispersive spectroscopy (EDS) on Oxford
(Penta FET-125 Precision) X-ACT and by micro-mass analyses
through laser micro-mass analyzer LAMMA-1000, model X-ACT;
solubility and lixiviation of metals from liquid extracts – by
method of atomic absorption spectrometry (AAS) on PerkinElmer
4100 spectrometer; granulometric composition – by laser diffrac-
tion particle size distribution analysis on Granulometer CILAS
1064, Brazil; mechanical resistance – by axial compressive
strength on EMIC universal testing machine DL10,000 EMIC.
Water absorption coefficient by immersion was determined on
Instrutherm BD 200 according to [22]. Linear shrinkage of TSs was
determined with digital caliper of DIGIMESS. The water absorption
(WA) was measured using an Instrutherm BD 200.
TSs with different compositions (Table 1) were compacted
under a pressure of 10 MPa into 20  20 mm cylinders, which were
stored in an open air environment. The contents of the components
in the TSs varied in the following weight limits: PG 5–70%, GMW
15–75%, and LPW 10–20%.
The values of the mechanical properties and standard devia-
tions were obtained as the average from 10 measurements of the
TSs. The changes in the mechanical properties and the physico-
chemical processes of hydration and curing were examined at the
following ages: 3, 7, 14, 28, 60, 90, and 180 days; 12 months; and 18
months.
The coefficient of water resistance (CWR) values of the TSs was
determined according to the [23] using the Eq. (1):
ðRD  RSAT Þ
C WR ¼ ; ð1Þ
RDRY
where RD and RSAT are the uniaxial compressive strengths (MPa) of
the dry and water-saturated TSs, respectively, after 24 h.
The water absorption values were measured according to [22]
using the Eq. (2):
 
ðMSAT  MD Þ
WA ¼  100 ð2Þ
MD
where MSAT is the mass of the water-saturated sample after 24 h of
immersion and MD is the mass of the dry sample after completely
drying at 100
C.
Table 1
Granulometric composition of PG and GMW.
Sieve, mm Content of fractions, wt.%

4,000,000 tons, half of which is utilized in agriculture and half PG GMW

of which is released into the dump. A lime plant supplied the LPW, 2.4 0 0.03
i.e., incompletely burnt limestone, to serve as the binder material 1.2 0 0.19
in the experiments. The gold mining waste sample was obtained 0.6 5.17 1.13
0.42 13.43 2.42
from one gold mining enterprise in Paraná state, Brazil.
0.297 18.62 4.17
0.149 58.34 18.78
Methods 0.075 3.31 63.98
<0.075 1.13 9.30
The raw materials and ceramics were characterized by the Total 100.00 100.00

various methods. To determine the chemical composition it was

 V.A. Mymrin et al. / Journal of Environmental Chemical Engineering 3 (2015) 2611–2618 2613

Table 2 Table 3
Contents of the main elements (oxides) in the chemical composition of the raw Substantial compositions of the TSs.
materials used in this study.
No Compositions, wt.%
Oxides Chemical composition, wt.%
PG GMW LPW
PG GMW LPW
1 60 25 15
Al2O3 0.20 9.80 0.25 2 70
BaO 2.50 0.20 – 3 65 15 20
CaO 30.67 1.40 47.69 4 60 20
Fe2O3 0.20 1.20 0.24 5 55 30 15
K2O – 4.40 0.05 6 50 40 10
MgO <0.1 0.70 33.10 7 45 45
MnO – <0.1 – 8 40 15
Na2O – 1.40 – 9 25 55 20
P2 O 5 0.90 0.30 0.02 10 15 65
SiO2 0.90 77.53 2.82 11 10 70
SO3 45.00 0.30 0.05 12 5 75
TiO2 0.60 0.30 0.04
P.F. 18.93 2.37 15.74
S 100.00 100.00 100.00 classified as normal (range between 2 and 3 kg/dm3). The GMW
had a moisture content of 17.2%, specific surface area of 1970 cm2/g
and specific mass of 2.57 kg/dm3.
Results and discussion The particle size distribution of the employed GMW (Table 2)
indicates that 63.98% of this material remained on the 0.075 mm
Characterization of the raw materials sieve: only 26.65% of the particles are larger than 0.075 mm, and
9.30% of the particles are smaller than 0.075 mm. Neither PG nor
The PG had a moisture content of 34.31%, a specific surface area GMW possessed a silt fraction (less than 0.05 mm) or clay fraction
of 1200 cm2/g and a specific mass of 2.28 kg/dm3, which is (less than 0.002 mm).

Fig. 1. Diffraction patterns of raw materials: (A) phosphor-gypsum waste, (B) gold mining waste and (C) lime production waste.
2614 V.A. Mymrin et al. / Journal of Environmental Chemical Engineering 3 (2015) 2611–2618

Fig. 2. Morphology of the raw materials: (A) PG, (B) GMW, (C) LPW.

Table 3 presents the XRF results, which indicate that the PG
primarily consisted of SO3 and CaO and that the GMW primarily
consisted of SiO2, Al2O3 and K2O. The AAA results indicated that the
PG also contained some heavy metals, such as Cr total 6.36 mg/l, Zn
2.17 mg/l, and Cu 3.78 mg/l.
The contents of these heavy metals considerably exceed the
sanitary standards of Brazil. Because of its high pH (12.5–13),
extremely high quantity of production, and its low level of
utilization, this PG is classified as a hazardous waste. These data are
partially consistent with the results of [24]; The authors
investigated some PG from Brazil, which contained a larger
number of heavy metals and a smaller percentage of contents. The
Brazilian standard [25] states that quicklime applied as binder in
civil construction must contain a minimum of 88% total nonvolatile
oxides (CaO + MgO) and a maximum carbon dioxide (CO2) content
of 12%. As shown in Table 1, the LPW used in this study contained
23.6% CO2, 43.1% CaO and 26.3% MgO, characterizing it as waste
from the production of quicklime or incompletely burnt limestone.
The XRD patterns of the PG indicated (Fig. 1) that its
mineralogical composition was as follows: gypsum – CaSO42H2O,
calcium sulfate hydrate – CaSO40.67H2O, dolomite – CaMg(CO3)2
and magnesium oxide carbonate – Mg3O(CO3)2. The GMW
consisted of quartz – SiO2, albite – NaAlSi3O8, microcline –
KAlSi3O8 and muscovite – (K,Na)(Al,Mg,Fe)2(Si3,1Al0,9)O10(OH)2.
The mineralogical composition of the LPW was as follows: calcium
oxide (quicklime) – CaO, portlandite – Ca(OH)2, calcite  CaCO3,
magnesite – MgCO3 and quartz – SiO2.
The SEM images of the employed raw materials show different
particle sizes and shapes, with widely varying pore shapes and
dimensions. The images of each of the three raw materials
investigated show that all particles in the initial components are
not chemically linked but rather have only mechanical contacts
with each other. The PG particles (Fig. 2A) have many layered forms
because they were precipitated during chemical processes for the
separation of phosphorous; in some cases, they have some
inclusions of crystal-like bodies. The GMW particles are distin-
guished from the other materials by large grain sizes, which vary
from 5 to 45 mm, and by the lack of sharp angles as a result of long
geological processes. The LPW particles (Fig. 2C) have different
shapes and sizes but are rounded, which is typical for amorphous
materials.
Mechanical properties of the TSs
Fig. 3 shows the change in the uniaxial compressive strength of
the different compositions during curing.
After 3 days of curing, the strengths of all compositions already
met the requirements of the Brazilian standard [26] for solid bricks
(class A < 2.5, class B 2.5 < 4.0 and class C > 4.0) and for ceramic
blocks (class 15 = 1.5 < 2.5 and class 25 = 2.5 < 4.5).
Comparing the strength values of compositions 2 and 8, which
had an equal binder content of 15% LPW, shows that as the content
of PG increased from 40 to 70%, the strengths of the samples
increased by almost 4-fold on the 3rd day and by 1.6-fold at 18
months.
A similar increase in the GMW content from 15 to 75%
(compositions 3 and 12, with an equal 20% content of the binder
LPW) reduced the strength of the samples by 3-fold on the 3rd day
and by 1.4-fold at 18 months. These results demonstrate that PG
has a positive role in the hardening process of new construction
materials. The samples with composition 4, which contained 60%
PG, 20% GMW and 20% LPW, exhibited the highest compressive

Table 4
Coefficients of water resistance (CWR) and water absorption (CWA) of materials on
the 28th day of curing in the open air.

No Compositions, wt.% CWR CWA, (%)

PG GMW LPW
1 60 25 15 0.79 8.47
2 70 15 0.82 8.36
3 65 20 0.86 8.56
4 60 20 0.95 8.60
5 55 30 15 0.90 8.00
6 50 40 10 0.91 7.69
7 45 45 0.84 7.38
8 40 15 0.77 8.47
9 25 55 20 0.84 8.76
10 15 65 0.87 8.56
11 10 70 0.79 8.45
12 5 75 0.76 8.44
Fig. 3. Uniaxial compressive strengths of the TSs during curing.
 V.A. Mymrin et al. / Journal of Environmental Chemical Engineering 3 (2015) 2611–2618 2615

Fig. 4. Diffraction patterns of composition 4: (A) before and (B) after the curing process of 18 months of strengthening.

strength at all stages: 8.3 MPa on the 3rd day and 13.5 MPa on the
90th day of hardening.
The CWR values (Table 4) at 28 days varied from 0.76 to 0.95 and
increased as the LPW and PG contents increased. The highest CWR
value (0.95%) was obtained with composition 4, which greatly
exceeded the very high demands of the Russian construction
standard [23], arising from severe climatic conditions of the
country.
The values of CWA varied (Table 4) from 7.38% to 8.76%, which
are consistent with the Brazilian standard [23]. Furthermore, these
values increased as the LPW content increased, presumably
because the samples were not completely hydrated during curing.
According to the [23] standards, the average CWA of plain hollow
concrete masonry blocks with lightweight aggregate should be at
most 13%.
The shrinkage of the TSs of all compositions increased almost
linearly from 0.75%–1.01% on day 3 up to 1.15%–1.94% at 18 months
in response to increasing LPW content and decreasing PG content.
The values of standard deviation of all mechanical properties
usually increased with the increasing of average values, but always
stayed within the range of 0.3–1.8%.
Physicochemical processes of structure formation
The physicochemical processes for the formation of the
structure of composition 4 listed in Table 1 indicated that this
composition exhibited the best mechanical properties and a very
high PG content of 60%. The diffraction patterns (Fig. 4A and B) of
the initial dry mixture and of the sample after 18 months of curing
also showed a visible difference.
The analysis, interpretation and comparison of the two
diffraction patterns in Fig. 4 (Table 5) indicated that the peaks
corresponding to muscovite – K,Na(Al,Mg,Fe)2(Si3,1Al0,9)O10(OH)2,
microcline – KAlSi3O8 and afwillite – 3CaO2SiO23H2O disap-
peared, which are unstable aluminum-silicates and hydro-silicates
in extremely alkaline (pH 13 or 13.4) and moist environments. It is
clear that the crystal structures were partially or completely
destroyed in this environment and that the products were
absorbed by new bonds. Only the peaks corresponding to quartz
(SiO2) remained stable.
There was also a visible increase in amorphous substances
during the curing process, which was evident when magnifying
the area between zero line of the graph and the diffraction curve.

Table 5
Comparison of the diffractogram patterns (Fig. 4) of composition 4: A – before hydration and B  after the curing process during 18 months strengthening.

Symbol Initial mixture 18 months of hydration Formula of the mineral

Minerals

A Albite Albite NaAlSi3O8

G n.d. Gypsum CaSO42H2O
D Dolomite Dolomite CaMg(CO3)2
Mg Carbonate of magnesium oxide Carbonate of magnesium oxide Mg3O(CO3)2
Q Quartz Quartz SiO2
M Muscovite n.d. K,Na(Al,Mg,Fe)2 (Si3,1Al0,9)O10(OH)2
Mc Microcline n.d. KAlSi3O8
Af Afwillite n.d. 3CaO2SiO23H2O

n.d.: not detected.

2616 V.A. Mymrin et al. / Journal of Environmental Chemical Engineering 3 (2015) 2611–2618

Fig. 5. Morphology of the TSs of composition 4 after 18 months of hydration.

Table 6 presence of amorphous structures. The chemical composition of

Chemical composition (EDS image in Fig. 5B and C) of the areas and points of the the total surface (Fig. 5B) confirms the XRF results of the initial
composition 4 after 18 months strengthening. components (Table 2).
Spectrum C F Mg Al Si S K Ca Fe Total The best resemblance of chemical compositions was observed
General 14.36 – 6.02 1.82 8.00 21.53 1.57 45.91 0.80 100.0
when comparing area 1 and points 1, 3 and 4. Based on the shape of
area the particles and their chemical composition, they are close to
Area 1 13.68 – 0.39 – – 36.54 – 49.38 – 100.0 gypsum CaSO42H2O with calcite CaCO3. The composition of area 1
Area 2 15.34 3.25 0.86 8.19 64.04 – 5.67 1.30 1.35 100.0 is slightly polluted by the inclusion of magnesium (0.39%). High
Point 1 12.54 – – – – 36.96 – 50.51 – 100.0
contents of Ca, S and C with different values of Mg (0.39–6.02%) in
Point 2 18.68 – 0.60 0.78 75.79 – 1.14 3.01 – 100.0
Point 3 14.14 – – – – 36.15 – 49.71 – 100.0 the general area, areas 1, 2 and point 2 reveals a mixture of gypsum
Point 4 11.00 – – – – 37.53 – 51.47 – 100.0 CaSO42H2O with small particles or dust of dolomite CaMg(CO3)2
or of other Mg-containing substances. They may also correspond to
The increase in the amount of amorphous substances with different minerals or to amorphous substances.
different chemical compositions and the bulk density over time Similar results were obtained by laser micro-mass analysis
occurs through the alkaline corrosion of the solid components in (LAMMA, Fig. 7, points A–C). These results confirmed the primarily
the liquid phase of the pores of the material. The compaction of amorphous nature of the new formations determined by the XRD
the pores of the amorphous substances causes the material’s analyses (Fig. 4), SEM (Fig. 5B), EDS spectral analysis (Fig. 6 and
strength to increase. Table 6) and LAMMA (Fig. 7).
A morphological analysis of the initial sample of composition 4 All of the LAMMA spectra of the chemical compositions
before hydration (Fig. 2, A–C) shows separate particles with of the nearest points of the new formations revealed quite
different sizes and shapes (angular, laminar, needle-like, curved, different combinations and quantities of isotopes (intensities of
etc.) without chemical bonds between them and with varied pore the peaks).
configurations. The inter-particle pores also possessed varied sizes
and shapes. Leaching and solubility
The SEM images of composition 4, after 18 months of hydration
(Fig. 5A and B), show numerous tabular-shaped crystal-like bodies Because of the presence of a rather large amount of heavy
resembling those of gypsum (Table 6, area 1). Numerous areas of metals, such as Cr total 6.36 mg/l, Zn 2.17 mg/l, and Cu 3.78 mg/l in
chemically bonded particles are also visible. The chemical PG, which far exceeded the permissible concentrations of these
compositions of the new formations as determined by EDS metals, composition 4 with 60% PG was tested (Table 7) after 18
indicated in Fig. 5B (Table 6) show the difference between the months of hydration and curing with respect to leaching and
areas and points, despite their similar shapes, confirming the solubility in accordance with the Brazilian norms [24]. The liquid

Fig. 6. EDS spectra of general area and points 1 and 3 of new formations of composition 4 after 18 months of strengthening.
 V.A. Mymrin et al. / Journal of Environmental Chemical Engineering 3 (2015) 2611–2618 2617

Fig. 7. Lamma specters A, B and C of materials’ new formations of composition 4 after 18 months of hydration.

resistance of 13.5 MPa in comparison with the 4 MPa of standard

Table 7
demands and with a strong binding of heavy metals.
Leaching and solubility of metals from the TSs of composition 4 after 18 months of
hydration.
2. One of the novelties of this study is that during the processes of
hydrating, chemical interaction in alkaline environment and
Metals Leaching, mg/l Solubility, mg/l curing on the open air were completely dissolved three initial
Obtained Standards Obtained Standards limits minerals – muscovite K,Na(Al,Mg,Fe)2(Si3,1Al0,9)O10(OH)2, mi-
results limits results crocline KAlSi3O8 and afwillite – 3CaO2SiO23H2O, with the
As n.d. 1.0 n.d. 0.010 synthesis of new mineral Gypsum CaSO42H2O and significant
Cr total <0.10 5.0 <0.05 0.05 increasing of carbonate of magnesium oxide Mg3O(CO3)2 and
F 0.74 150.0 0.68 1.50
dolomite CaMg(CO3) quantities with a decrease in the
Fe 0.17 * <0.05 0.3
Ba 7.34 70.0 0.33 0.70 concentration of albite. The only peaks that remained stable
Ni <0.05 * <0.05 * corresponded to quartz (SiO2).
Zn <0.10 * <0.10 5.0 3. The greatest benefit obtained in using the results of this work is
Al – * <0.10 0.2 for the environment, in light of the real possibility of using
Cu – * <0.05 2.0
Se n.d. 1.0 n.d. 0.010
various industrial wastes as raw materials as a suitable method
to dispose of them, thereby preventing strong chemical
Note: *: demands are not still developed by Brazilian standards [23]; n.d.: not
contamination of the air, soils and groundwater by highly
detected.
alkaline phosphor-gypsum and lime production wastes. The
utilization of these wastes and gold mining waste will minimize
the extraction of traditional natural resources.
extracts for these studies were prepared in accordance with
Brazilian norms [27,28].
The comparison of the metals leaching and solubility from the Acknowledgements
developed materials with the requirements of the standards [24]
demonstrated a great advantage of new compositions. Therefore, The authors thank the Environmental Technology Laboratory
the materials developed in this study were classified as non- (LTA), the Laboratory of Minerals and Rocks (LAMIR) of the Federal
dangerous for the environment. University of Paraná—UFPR, and filial of BOSCH in Curitiba, Brazil,
The mechanical and chemical properties of the developed for strong technical assistance during conducting of this research
materials indicate that they can be used as solid or holed bricks or work.
blocks. Therefore, at the end of their service life, they can be
successfully recycled as valuable components for new materials. Appendix A. Supplementary data
This characteristic of the developed materials is fully consistent
with the 10th point (Design for Degradation) of the Twelve Supplementary data associated with this article can
Principles of Green Chemistry: “Chemical products should be be found, in the online version, at http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.
designed so that at the end of their function they break down into jece.2015.02.027.
innocuous degradation products and do not persist in the
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utilized to prevent environmental pollution by heavy metals
and by high alkalinity. This manuscript describes a novel
approach to overcome this global environmental problem by
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with lime production waste as a binder and gold mining waste
as a filler to produce new construction materials with a
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Further reading
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(2004) Rio de Janeiro (in Portuguese).