Zinc slag roads

Zinc slag

De Kempen used to be an area with a lot of zinc industry, the waste material from these factories (zinc slag) was used in local road construction. It turned out that zinc slag contains contaminants which could harm humans and nature. That is why a lot of the roads in the southeast of Brabant and the middle of Limburg had to be investigated.

 

Innovative approach

Zinc slag had to be identified on several roads with a total length of 900 km. To make this possible Medusa has developed an innovative geophysical approach along with several other companies: Tauw, Witteveen+Bos, Fugro and Fransen Milieutechniek. The Medusa sensor plays an important role identifying the zinc slag. The zinc slag  radiates an unique ‘fingerprint’ which can be detected by the sensor. This innovative approach is a lot more efficient and reduces costs considerable compared to traditional methods.

 

More information

-A method for the verificiation and quantification of zinc slag roads

-Crossection: Hunt for heavy metals