Environmentally sound management of industrial solid waste: A paradigm of proposed bi-tetrahedron

The global industrial solid waste (ISW) generation reaches billions of tons yearly. However, it is difficult to directly utilize ISW on a large scale due to its low recycling efficiency and accompanying environmental pollution. Meanwhile, the improper disposal of ISW in many developing countries leads to serious pollution to the air, water, and soil environment. In the present study, a systematic review on the status quo of the recycling and pollution control of the major ISW has been conducted. Based on the fundamental central paradigm of materials science and engineering, a bi-tetrahedron model has been newly proposed to promote the sound management of ISW. The tetrahedral model of the central paradigm for guiding ISW recycling has been rationally designed by comprising compositions, processing, structure, and properties as apexes with logic relations. Meanwhile, another coupled tetrahedral model was proposed to illustrate the logical relations between pollutant species, transfer and transformation, speciation in structure, and solidification/stabilization. This paralleled tetrahedral model can provide a hierarchy classification of environmental risk control for ISW management. In addition, the proposed bi-tetrahedron model was demonstrated in the geopolymer scenarios of ISW recycling.