Background of the Invention As is known, for disposing of urban, industrial and the like waste, a thermal-destruction or incineration method is broadly used. In this disposal method, however, great amounts of ashes deriving from a burnt highly polluting waste materials are generated. In Italy, for example, said ashes or slags amount to about 1.5 million tons/year, and it is submitted that, within two years, said amounts will be tripled.

In view of severe anti-polluting regulations on the disposal of said slags and ashes, incinerating and/or co-generating operating works are compelled to continuously search new disposable sites for disposing of therein the mentioned ashes.

Moreover, in addition to being difficult, such a disposal of burnt- said waste ashes is rather expensive.

Actually, to dispose of said ashes, methods for mixing small portions of said ashes with concrete, in a rate of 5/7%, and for

using the formed mixture in conventional applications, have been devised. However, the involved amounts are rather small, and such a disposal method is mainly directed to fly ashes, and accordingly has a rather limited application field.

It is likewise known to dispose of other slags from metallurgic thermal processes by mixing them with quarry aggregates or inert materials, and related catalyzers, and then with water to provide agglomerates suitable for making articles of manufacture, such as, for example, road and railroad enbankments, upperworks, yard floorings and the like. These hydraulic catalyzed conglomerates are made as prior concrete agglomerates and can be likewise used for making desired works or articles of manufacture.

Prior hydraulic catalyzed conglomerates are also broadly used and recommended in work tender specifications, for example of the Italian corporations A. N. A. S. (Azienda Nazionale Autonoma delle Strade-National Road Board) and FF. SS. (Ferrovie dello Stato- State Railways).

While prior hydraulic catalyzed conglomerates have satisfactory geoteclmical and environmental characteristics, they are affected by several drawbacks and disadvantages, since they exclusively use comparatively great amounts of quarry aggregates which, as is known, are hardly available.

Moreover, regulations on establishing new quarries provide for a stringent mating to territorial preserving rules and the consequent required environmental recovering would cause a great increase of the quarry inert material cost and, accordingly, of the agglomerates made therefrom.

It is furthermore known that local public authorities are searching, through their urban areas, novel disposal sites to dispose of therein building demolition debris in a comparatively high amount, which, for example in Italy, is of several million tons/year.

To the foregoing it should also be added that waste or

refuse incinerator operating works are also continuously searching new disposal sites for disposing of therein combustion ashes which, for example, in Italy amount to dozen million tons by year.

The above briefly disclosed problems for Italy are also substantially true for other countries, in some of which anti- polluting and territory preserval regulamentations are even more stringent.

The Inventors of this application, in the previous Italian patent application C099A000019, which is herein incorporated for reference, have already disclosed catalyzed hydraulic mixtures of industrial slags from metallurgic thermal processes on ferrous and not ferrous metals, and for recovery inert materials from building demolitions, as processed by suitable catalyzers ; in said prior application, moreover, suitable mixing rates for the mixture components, and methods for using the necessary catalyzers and dry storing the mixtures, and for using said mixtures to make conglomerates to produce desired articles of manufacture have also been disclosed.

Summary of the Invention Thus, the aim of the present invention is to provide a truly echologic and inexpensive disposal of a comparatively high amount of the above mentioned ashes from urban or the like waste burning processes.

This aim is achieved, according to the invention, by the mixtures and articles of manufacture made thereby, having the features of claims 1 and 10, respectively.

Further advantageous developments and compositions are disclosed in the sub-claims.

Actually, the same inventors have surprisingly found that the catalyzed hydraulic mixtures for disposing of industrial slags, (i. e. metallurgic slags from extraction processes on minerals

to extract therefrom ferrous and not ferrous metals and blast furnace slags of the metallurgic works and/or ashes from burnt coal in thermoelectric power system, and related basic catalyzers), are basically suitable, upon reformulating their compositions and with suitable particle sizes and rates, to provide a reliable confinement even of the polluting substances of said ashes from burnt urban wastes, or the like, in articles of manufacture made thereby.

The basic teaching of the invention substantially consists of suitably replacing, in said catalyzed hydraulic mixtures, the metallurgic slags from ferrous and non ferrous metal extraction processes by said urban waste or the like burnt ashes, while providing a suitable particle size and rate.

The mixtures and articles of manufacture according to the present invention provide several important advantages.

At first, the inventive mixtures have geotechnical and performance features fully analogous to those of prior catalyzed hydraulic conglomerates, and other alternative products, such as dry quarry materials, either in a fractured or non fractured form, stabilized mixed materials for road enbankments, cemented or bituminous mixed materials and the like.

Moreover, the inventive mixtures can be made much more inexpensively than prior catalyzed hydraulic mixtures with quarry inert materials, of which, however, they hold the easily forming and laying practical advantages.

Thus the present invention allows to overcome, in a very simple, reliable and inexpensive manner, all of the problems related to the inclusion of polluting substances in said ashes, both of light and heavy nature, from burnt solid urban or the like waste materials.

Yet another advantage of the novel mixtures herein taught, is that they substantially hold unchanged all the advantages of the industrial slag containing catalyzed hydraulic mixtures. In

fact, the inventive mixtures can be used in a lot of application fields, such, for example, in making said road and railroad enbankments and upperworks, yard floorings, and for performing environmental recovery works on quarries and disposal sites, reclaiming polluted sites to be waterproofed, in disposal place foundations and the like.

They, moreover, in an embodiment thereof including exclusively dry materials, can be stored even for a comparatively long time, without decreasing the machining properties thereof, the hydraulic setting being advantageously activated only upon forming the agglomerate, or after adding water. Likewise, all the catalyzers, or a portion thereof, are provided in a liquid phase, so as to facilitate the forming, conveying and storing of the mixtures which, anyhow, will be ready for making the related agglomerates by merely adding the necessary water.

Moreover, after having prepared the mixtures with water and catalyzers, the agglomerate can be stored for 3-4 days before starting the agglomerate setting, thereby preserving in this period its processing characteristics unaltered. This is a very important advantage since it allows to stop the works, for example in weekends or holiday days without negatively affecting processing properties and characteristics of the subject materials.

Likewise, the setting of the inventive agglomerates is a slow one, thereby providing the following further advantages: -upon casting or processing the agglomerate, it can be used in a very easy manner; -it is possible to meet, in a very simple manner, the intended compaction requirements: -since the activation of the mixtures advantageously requires a comparatively small amount of water, they can be pre-packaged and stored even for long time periods.

A further important aspect of the inventive mixtures is

that building demolition inert materials are available, even in a processed condition thereof, at a low cost, thereby the inventive mixtures and articles of manufacture can be advantageously made in a inexpensive manner.

Yet another important aspect is that the subject mixtures substantially consist of waste materials of otherwise difficult and expensive disposal, such as: 1) waste materials from demolition debris processes and 2) waste materials from incineration of solid urban waste or the like. Thus, the quarry inert material extraction and disposal site requirements would be greatly reduced, with consequent economic and environmental advantages.

Further characteristics, details and advantages of the mixtures according to the invention and articles of manufactures made thereby, will become more apparent hereinafter from the following disclosure of several exemplary embodiments thereof.

More specifically, the mixtures according to the invention substantially comprise: a) inert materials substantially, and preferably fully, derived from building demolition debris as suitably ground, processed and granulometrically sieved; b) ashes and slags comprising: -bl) light and heavy ashes, i. e. residue derived from burnt solid urban waste or the like; -b2) blast furnace slags and/or light ashes from the metallurgic works and/or burnt coal in thermoelectric power systems; c) catalyzer agents designed for absorbing and neutralizing slag polluting materials.

Accordingly to the invention, the above mentioned components are used with respective granulometric or particle size ranges and volume rates found by specifically designed searches and tests, and adapted to meet a desired geotechnical characterization.

More specifically, said suitably selected, metered and mixed catalyzer agents can be made either in a powder form and/or, as required, in an aqueous solution form. They, in particular, are preferably selected and metered to provide time delayed polluting material absorption or separating actions, as hereinafter disclosed, to provide and constantly hold a basic environment having a pH of at least 11 which, like that of industrial slag containing mixtures, while enhancing the hydraulic power of granulated slags and blast furnace light ashes, affected thereby.

It should be moreover pointed out that the metering of the slags and/or the blast furnace light ashes, which, as is known, comprise lime, silica and alumina, will depend both on the used inert material type and the application use of the intended articles of manufacture, since the slags affect the hydraulic mixture setting and, performance characteristics. At low doses, the slags are advantageously preliminary slightly broken to provide a particle size or granulometry in a range of 0.05-1.5 mm, with about 15% of said slag having a particle size less than 100 um.

Moreover, it would also be possible to use inert materials, even in a unwashed condition, from building debris frantumating processes, in a rate of 20 to 60%, to assure an inclusion of a limestone material suitable amount.

Thus, upon suitably verifying their overall granulometric range said ashes will complete the mixtures.

The confinement or neutralization of polluting materials contained in said ashes is assured by a sort of inertizing effect from a recrystalization of hydrated slags of said blast furnace slag and/or light ashes in said constantly held basic environment, and the limestone material of building demolition inert materials, as in prior mixtures for disposing of industrial slags.

Thereinbelow will be disclosed several examples of catalyzed hydraulic mixture compositions containing ashes from

burnt urban solid waste or the like, and of inert materials according to the invention.

Example 1 Inert materials derived from demolition debris processes with a granulometry of 0.05-15 mm, a volume rate of 37%; slags with a granulometry of 0.1-1.5 mm, a volume rate of 12%; burnt ashes, with a granulometry of 0.05-30 mm, volume rate of 50%; and catalyzers i. e.: basic catalyzers in powder form with a volume rate of 0.6%, and basic catalyzers diluted to 50% in water, with a volume rate of 0.4%.

Example 2 Inert materials from demolition debris processes, with a granulometryy of 0.01-15 mm, a volume rate of 50% ; slag with a granulometry of 0.1-1.5 mm, a volume rate of 10% ; heavy and light ashes from waste burning processes, with a granulometry of 0.05- 30 mm, a volume rate of 39%; and catalyzers i. e.: basic catalyzers in powder form, with a volume rate of 1.0%.

Example 3 Inert materials, from demolition debris processes, with a granulometry of 0.01-30 mm, a volume rate of 30%; slag with a granulometry of 0.01-1.5 mm, a volume rate of 10%; blast furnace light ashes with a granulometry of 0.001-1.0 mm, a volume rate of 9%; ashes from solid urban waste or the like burning processes, with a granulometry of 0.05-30 mm, a volume rate of 50% ; and catalyzers i. e.: basic catalyzers in powder form, with a volume rate of 0.3%, and basic catalyzers diluted to 50% in water, with a volume rate of 0.7%.

Preparing of conglomerates for making articles of manufacture starting from the inventive mixtures For making articles of manufactures starting from industrial slag containing mixtures, the following processing method can be advantageously adopted out.

The individual components of the mixtures together with powder-form catalyzers, are supplied to tanks of a per se known volumetric metering-mixing system, in component amounts preset depending on the intended application and desired performance characteristics of the articles.

Thus, the mixture will comprise dry components and can be stored, conveyed to the building site, or mixed, if desired, with a necessary amount of water to provide an optimum density of the agglomerate density, controlled by a per se known Proctor test.

While said catalyzers can be formed and used in powder form for addition to other components to form dry mixtures, they, or some of them according to a preferred embodiment of the invention, can also be used as an aqueous solution while is added to the mixture to form the intended agglomerate. This would allow to start the activation of the hydraulic setting by merely adding water.

Actually the three components of the slags, i. e. lime, silica and alumina, included in a basic environment with a pH of at least 11, formed by adding an aqueous solution containing dissolved soda, lime and calcium sulphate as catalyzers, will form a solution and crystalize to hydrated salts. The hydraulic setting rate.

On the other hand, will depend on the component dissolving rate, according to a specific feature of the used slags, and on the specific surface of said slags, catalyzer type, quality and temperature. The conglomerate made upon adding water has a slow setting, thereby the small-value and difficult to be disposed of residue component materials will provide the articles of manufacture made therefrom with very valuable geotechnical, elasticity, waterproofing and strength properties.

In particular the hydraulic setting of the inventive mixture is rather slow, since it progressively occurs as follows: -a slow setting increase in the first three or four weeks;

-a setting acceleration from the second to the sixth ageing month; -a setting slowing down, but with a continuously growing of crystalization up to the third year, with a progressive flattening of the strength curve toward an asymtotic value corresponding to a maximum strength.

Finally, it should be pointed out that the agglomerated according to the invention can be made, conveyed and processed or cast by conventional equipment and means, without requiring customized apparatus on the building sites.

In practicing the invention those skilled in the art could also use different ashes from waste burning processes, or metallurgic slags, and corresponding catalyzer agents designed to provide the above disclosed conditions, without departing from the scope of the invention as disclosed and thereinbelow claimed.