CRT glass state of the art: A case study: Recycling in ceramic glazes

The management of electrical and electronic equipment waste (WEEE) is a significant problem of industrialized countries, in the last decades it has been noticed an appreciable increase of this residue, consisting of about 80% of television sets and computers containing end of life (EOL) cathode ray tubes (CRT). Specific technologies permit to dismantle the kinescope, obtaining different glasses with high quality level and specific chemical compositions. The presence of dangerous elements makes critical the re-use in many fields of application. The present work proposes the feasibility of CRT glass recycling in ceramic field using it into a base glaze formulation as substitute of “ceramic frits”. The study was conducted in two phases, laboratory scale in order to study the suitable glaze formulation and semi-industrial scale with the technological support of an Italian ceramic glaze producer. The glazes obtained have aesthetic and mechanical properties extremely similar to the standard ones.