The Feasibility of Recycling Gypsum Waste

Abstract

The tremendous development in various industries has brought on concerns related to environmental pollution and human health. Wastewater treatment activities in the chemical industry have generated approximately 50,000 tons of gypsum waste per month. Heavy metals released from the uncontrolled dumping of gypsum waste in landfills might be harmful to  the environment and humans since it may leach into soil and groundwater. Therefore, landfilling is no longer an appropriate method for disposing waste due to the leaching potential of gypsum. On the other hand, secure landfills which are more suitable for the disposal of gypsum waste is very costly for the industry. Hence, recycling industrial gypsum waste with different applications will be beneficial in terms of saving landfill area and reducing the cost needed for disposing waste.

 Keywords: gypsum waste, toxic waste, heavy metal, recycling