Hazardous spent methanol synthesis catalyst, bauxite red mud and ground cooled ferrous slag application to produce sustainable ceramics

New composites of sustainable ceramic composites from hazardous methanol synthesis catalyst waste, bauxite red mud and ground cooled ferrous slag were developed in this study. The ceramics were sintered at temperatures of 900°, 1000°, 1050°, 1100° and 1150°C for one hour. Almost all ceramic demonstrated fairly high properties, starting from a firing temperature of 1000°C. The best results were obtained after firing at 1050°С, which reached 25.98 MPa of flexural resistance, 8.80% of water absorption, 3.46 g/cm3 and 7.14% of linear shrinkage. Studies of physical – chemical processes of the ceramics’ structure formation by XRD, SEM / EDS / mapping and LAMMA methods show the synthesis of mainly amorphous new formations with strong glass-like structures. Therefore, the result of leaching and solubility of the initial components’ heavy metals in acid environment by the method of atom-absorption spectroscopy indicated their almost complete immobilization, which far exceeded the demands of Brazilian sanitary norms.