Study of mechanical, micro-structural and environmental properties of concrete containing zinc industry waste for pavements

https://doi.org/10.1016/j.conbuildmat.2020.118331Get rights and content

Highlights

  • Use of jarosite waste as a construction material for building rigid pavements.

  • Effect on the mechanical properties when cement is partially replaced by jarosite in the concrete mix.

  • Assessment of durability properties like abrasion resistance, air permeability and sorptivity of jarosite mixed concrete.

  • SEM and EDS analysis is also conducted to study the micro structural properties of concrete mix containing jarosite.

  • TCLP analysis to study the leaching concentrations of toxic and heavy metals in raw jarosite and jarosite concrete.

Abstract

The main objective of the present study was to investigate the utilization of zinc industry waste (jarosite) in the production of concrete by replacing it with the cement. The properties of the jarosite mixed concrete, in which the jarosite had partially replaced (0, 10, 15, 20 and 25%) the Ordinary Portland Cement (OPC), were also studied. Compressive and flexural strengths, abrasion resistance, air permeability and sorptivity of concrete mixes were also investigated after the curing periods of 28, 90, 180 and 365 days. Further, SEM, EDS and TCLP analysis were conducted to study the micro-structural properties and leaching characteristics of jarosite mixed concrete. From the experimental results it was found that the compressive and flexural strengths showed significant improvement when the curing period of the specimens was increased. Air permeability and sorptivity tests had given best results when the cement was replaced by 25% of jarosite. Further, the TCLP analysis revealed that toxicity of the jarosite concrete was found within permissible limits as compared to the raw jarosite.

Introduction

With an advancement in the construction industry and infrastructure sector, the requirement of concrete and its constituent materials such as cement binder, coarse aggregates and natural sand is increasing exponentially. It has been estimated that at least one ton of concrete is being utilized by every individual in the world [1]. Thus, concrete is the third most consumed material by humans after air and water. Concrete’sbinding property and strength comes from the cement, thus, making cement the most important ingredient of its production. But the cement industry is under scrutiny these days due to emission of a large amount of CO2 at the time of its production. As public become more aware about the impact of anthropogenic carbon gases (that are released by the cement industry) on the climate has forced us to look for alternatives for the cement.

The production of cement (an energy intensive process) has increased manifolds in the past one decade in order to satisfy ever increasing demand of the construction industry. Various studies showed that about 5% of total CO2 produced globally is released by the cement industry alone and it is expected that this percentage will increase to 8% in the near future. So there is a need to tackle this problem and various studies are presently being conducted in which 30% or more amount of cement is being replaced by its alternatives such as Supplementary Cementitious Materials (SCMs). It is expected that this will cause a reverse in its emission content in the atmosphere [2], [3], [4]. Such alternatives are available as the by-products from various processes taking place in the industries.

Further, every year solid waste of about 960 million tones is produced in India. Its enormous production is causing the environment toxic and also increasing the cost of maintaining the landfills. This requires its proper management and solutions to tackle its production [5]. Solid wastes like fly ash, slags, red mud, silica fumes, cement kiln dust are produced from thermal power plants, steel and iron industry, non- ferrous industries, cement industry respectively [6]. Replacement of cement by these solid waste products from the industry can aid in solving both problems of acting as cement substitute in concrete and safe disposal of these toxic by-products.

Section snippets

Zinc industry waste-Jarosite

Jarosite is a toxic waste which is produced by the zinc industry. Jarosite is generated when a rich zinc ore is roasted at a temperature of 900oC and is then subjected to leaching with the help of a hot acid. It is produced as a waste by almost all the developed and developing countries like India, China, Canada, Australia, Holland, Japan, Germany, Belgium, Spain, France, Finland, Korea, Argentina and Mexico. 0.60 million tonnes of hazardous zinc residue is generated by the European Union every

Materials Used

Jarosite used in this study was procured from the Hindustan Zinc Limited, Debari, Udaipur, India. It is a yellow colored and fine textured material as shown in Fig. 1. The SEM (Scanning Electron Microscope) image of jarosite is shown in Fig. 2. Its SEM analysis shows the flaky shaped particles. Further, its chemical analysis is shown in Table 1. The 43-grade cement used in this study conforming with IS: 8112 [23] was brought from the local vendor. Specific gravity of cement was 3.15 and its

Compressive Strength

The compressive strength results were shown in Fig. 3 which illustrates that as the curing days were increased, the strength of all the mixes also increased. After 28 days of curing, the compressive strength of reference mix was 46 MPa, which was 12.4% more when compared to that of the J25 mix strength. At 90 curing days, the compressive strength of all the mixes were increased by a significant percentage. The compressive strength of M40, J10, J15, J20 and J25 mixes after 90 days curing was 57

Conclusion

The focus of this paper was to study the impact of jarosite on various concrete properties. In this study, the effect was assessed by varying the jarosite percentage in a concrete mix as a replacement of cement and comparing it with the M40 control mix. Mechanical, durability and micro structural properties were studied by preparing 5 concrete mixes (including the control mix). The following conclusions were drawn:

  • 1.

    The mechanical properties like compressive and flexural strength showed a

Ethical statement

Declarations of interest: none. Further this study is not funded by any agency.

References (38)

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