Preparation and characterization of foam glass from soda lime silicate glass waste by using different dosages of limestone

Abstract

Soda-lime silicate (SLS) waste glass is a kind of solid waste that is produced in large quantities as container glass or flat glass. In this work, waste window glass is used to produce foam glass using limestone as a foaming agent. The pore structure of the foam glass and the optimization of its properties by adjusting the amount of glass and foaming agents were investigated in this work. The formation of foam glass was studied on samples prepared from blends of SLS waste glass with 0.5 wt% SiC and 2, 4, 6 wt% limestone by sintering at 800 °C. The foam glass with 2wt % limestone presented a homogeneous foam structure with low body density (0.26 g/cm³), apparent porosity (9 vol%) and thermal conductivity (0.04 W/m∙K). When the limestone content increases to 6 wt %, the density and thermal conductivity of the sample also increases to 0.92 g/cm³ and 0.13 W/m∙K, respectively.