An Overview of Particle Agglomeration Techniques to Waste Utilization

Particulate materials and waste from industrial processes are troublesome in storage, transport and utilization, mainly due to their large volume and dusting. Therefore, originally the main reason for developing the agglomeration processes was to eliminate the afore-mentioned disadvantages. However, the modifications introduced to the merging processes of materials enabled obtaining a new type of products widely used in various applications. For the agglomeration of the inorganic materials, often containing hazardous substances, the disposal and transformation technologies are available for the safe products that can be used, for example, in civil engineering and construction. In turn, the agglomeration of the materials containing organic substances or fine coal, producing alternative fuels for energy recovery. Obviously, the combustion of these fuels results in a subsequent generation of waste in the form of bottom and fly ash, but they can be successfully further agglomerated to produce more valuable products. The numerous examples of the use of various agglomeration techniques to complete utilization of fine grains was shown. An additional effect of the agglomeration processes was also the fulfilment of the economy criteria, which matches with the principles of sustainable development of the environment. Supporting by worldwide literature, the selected agglomeration techniques were discussed, such as: solidification, granulation, extrusion, briquetting, as well as post-agglomeration high-temperature processing.