Utilisation of concentrator wastes of etibor Kirka Borax Company in the recipe of an opaque frit used for wall tile glazes as an acid boric replacement

Abstract

Turkey holds similar to63% of total boron deposition shares of the world with 803 million tons. Eti Holding, being the most important producer, possesses 31% of total world production on the B2O3 basis. Like every other industrial companies, depending upon the production rate, Eti Holding also struggles with the waste materials progressively occupying very large landfills day by day. This is an unpleasant occurrence from the environmental points of view. Therefore, to recycle these wastes several studies are still being carried out. In order to widen their possible utilisation fields concentrator wastes of Etibor Kirka Borax Company, which is one of the several branches in Eti Holding, were added into the recipe of a standard opaque frit suitable for wall tile glazes replacing acid boric content. The glazes prepared with this newly produced frits were applied onto green wall tiles and single fired. Final products were tested for determining the maturation attitude of their glazes, thermal shock and stain resistances, durability to several chemicals and colour parameters. All the results showed that these wastes could replace acid boric content of the starting frit batches in appropriate proportions and therefore be evaluated.