The Challenge

The Environment Is Under Attack

Millions of tons of hazardous material is dumped, spilled or transported to confined disposal facilities (CDFs and CADs) each year. Human health and ecosystems are challenged at every stage of its lifecycle. Metals such as lead and mercury pose significant health threats, with an estimated 23% of the deaths in the developing world attributed to environmental factors.

The U.S. EPA funded the development of the Cement-Lock™ process to convert hazardous waste to beneficial-use products that restore the health of ecosystems and communities devastated by pollution. The creation of marketable products beneficial to developing communities makes Cement-Lock™ a sustainable and economical solution.  Only Cement-Lock™ is capable of using hazardous waste as a “raw material” in the production of beneficial-use products that become the building-blocks of sustainable communities through the production of non-hazardous Cement, Electricity and Water Purification.

A Cement-Lock™ plant may be built and operational within a short period of time. All components required to build a Cement-Lock™ plant are commercially available. And the Cement-Lock™ process is economical since contaminated sediment and hazardous material is the raw material converted to salable beneficial use products, reducing operating costs. 

The Cement-Lock™ process should not to be confused with either cement manufacturing plants or incineration. The Cement-Lock™ process is considerably simpler than a Portland cement manufacturing plant and bears little or no resemblance to the actual complex cement plant. Unlike a cement plant, a Cement-Lock™ plant does not have the extensive sizing requirements for the materials being processed; it does not produce waste streams (such as cement kiln dust); it does not require complex energy management to save energy; and it does not produce high NOx.

NOT INCINERATION: Cement-Lock™ is not an incineration process. Incinerators do not operate at the ultra-high temperatures of the Cement-Lock™ conversion process and incinerators do not produce a consumer friendly product. They generate ash that contains leachable heavy metals which are disposed of as hazardous waste. Further, incinerators generate dioxins and dioxin precursors.

The implementation of the Socially Responsible Cement-Lock™ process provides the start of a sustainable industry for many communities in which toxic wastes are permanently removed from human contact and converted into construction-grade cement and electricity. Employment and electricity are economic benefits complimented with the fact that there are no secondary hazardous waste streams produced from Cement-Lock processing.