Recycling difficult-to-treat e-waste cathode-ray-tube glass as construction and building materials: A critical review

Abstract

Cathode ray tubes (CRTs) waste generation has become a great environmental challenge worldwide. CRT glass possesses reasonable intrinsic strength, low water absorption and rich in silica, which makes the glass suitable for use as sand or pozzolan in construction materials. This work presents a comprehensive overview of literature reporting on the reuse of CRT glass to prepare glass-ceramics; cement mortar, paste, and concrete; and bricks. The effects of various critical factors on the resulting products’ performance, preparation mechanisms, leaching behavior, lead fate, and environmental and human safety were investigated. The comparison of these recycling methods, and directions for future research were discussed and reported as well. Preparing cement mortar, paste, and concrete from CRT glass offer added advantages in terms of quantity of recyclable cathode ray tube glass at a given time, with minimal environmental and economic implications and thus could be an a promising value-added uses for CRT glass. The geographical distance between waste CRT glass sources and processing facilities, public policies should be taken into account in its recycling.