The Construction and Transport Ministry has succeeded in recycling lime sediment from a dam as cement material.
The sediment buildup was from the Shinkai Dam. The lime sediment has built up because it was the only way to neutralize the highly-acidic waste water from the nearby Kusatsu hot-spring resort which had made aquatic life in the river impossible. Fish and organisms are now returning.
The authorities have discovered that the lime which had settled at the bottom of the damn and was being extracted regularly and dumped in a mountain area had similar properties to the sewage and waste soil often used in the production of cement.
The Shinkai Dam Water Quality Control Office has stated that several issues must be resolved before this newfangled cement has commercial viability. One difficulty is that the new type of cement is sticky and has a tendency to adhere to machinery during processing. The second problem is that the cost of transporting the sediment to the factory must be reduced.
If you have solutions to these two problems, then the Shinkai Dam is only the beginning for you. Japan is dotted with hot springs near such dams using limestone to cut acidity. Opportunity is evident and ample.
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