Decreasing the hazardous effect of waste quartz powder and the toxicity of epoxy resin by its synergistic application in industrial coatings.

Quartz powder sourced from industrial wastes is very hazardous. It is because it contains large amounts of fine particles. Thus, it has the potential to cause cancer and nervous system impact on humans and animals. Furthermore, its disposal leads to water pollution and plant pollination (negative for the environment). It will not be dangerous if incorporated into a hardened epoxy resin coating. In turn, epoxy resin is very harmful to the environment, in particular to aquatic organisms; therefore, it is necessary to reduce its mass in coatings by using additives. The article describes the systematic investigation of the adhesion of an epoxy resin coating and an economic and toxicity analysis showing the cost and toxicity reduction of the epoxy resin coating by replacing a part of the epoxy resin mass with waste quartz powder. The key novelty of the following article is to highlight a new way to decrease the hazardous effect of waste quartz powder, thanks to its utilization in epoxy resin coatings. Furthermore, the novelty is to decrease the toxicity of epoxy resin by reducing its mass necessary to make the industrial coating.