Study on preparation and performance of biocarriers using waste liquid crystal display glass after extracting indium

Abstract

A large amount of waste liquid crystal display (LCD) glass becomes a secondary waste after extracting the scarce metal indium from waste LCD by acid leaching. The feasibility of preparing biocarriers from waste LCD glass as raw materials was studied. The effects of different types and contents of foaming agents, foaming temperature and time on the biocarriers were studied. Under the condition of foaming temperature of 1050 ℃ and foaming time of 20 min, a suitable biocarrier was prepared by adding 5 % CaCO3 as a foaming agent into the waste LCD glass (denoted as Biocarrier-CaCO3). The technical indicators, which including void fraction, specific surface area, compressive strength and others of the Biocarrier-CaCO3, met the standard of CJ/T 299-2008 for water treatment. When Biocarrier-CaCO3 was applied for Shewanella cultivating, the biomass of the biofilm reached as high as 38 mg/g. In contrast, Na2CO3 was not suitable for the preparation of biocarriers for its porcelainization; SiC also failed as a foaming agent because the strength of the biocarrier could not reach the technical requirements of the product. In all, this study provided a novel strategy to recycle waste LCD glass as biocarrier to support the development of microbes and biofilm.