Use of waste paper sludge and polypropylene to study the performance of concrete

Abstract

A large quantity of waste paper is generated from the offices and industries of the paper mill and it needs to be disposed off through proper waste management system or effectively reutilized in construction industry. Hypo plant in the paper industry generates large volume of waste in the form of slurry, disposal of which causes environmental problems. The increasing amount of waste is a concerning reality that arose various sustainability issues of the environment. The production of cement also accounts for the global warming by releasing carbon dioxide in the environment, therefore the formulation of concrete with industrial waste can help in minimizing the environmental issues. The proposed experimental investigation was carried out to explore the possibility of partial cement replacement by waste paper pulp (hypo sludge) and polypropylene. Polypropylene fibers are synthetic hydrocarbon polymer which has been added to supplement the strength of concrete. The present study comprises of casting of specimens in large numbers with varying percentage of combination of hypo sludge as 0%,5%,10%,15% & 20% and polypropylene fibers are added as 0%,0.25%,0.5%,0.75% and 1.0%. The workability of concrete was tested after preparing the concrete and side by side the compressive strength of concrete specimens were tested after 7, 14 and 28 days of curing. The observations revealed that the workability of concrete decreases from medium to low with an increase in the content of hypo sludge and polypropylene and compressive strength of specimens also show decreasing trend. The introduction of hypo-sludge and polypropylene sludge shows that there was a decrease of cost of concrete up to 18.35%.