Abstract:
In era of modernization and industrial development there is an issue arising regarding the disposal of the waste and sludge from the industries. The orthodox method of disposal of sludge and waste was either in the sea, burying it in the ground or burning it but now the advancement of science and modern technology has proved this thing to be very harmful and can be a reason for the degeneration of many of the natural habitats, lives and is a growing menace for the environment. Developed countries have taken a lot of steps in this regard.
An industry, US APPAREL AND TEXTILES, Lahore utilizes stone washing method and produces large amounts of sludge i.e., 80–90-meter cube per day, which was very harmful, and they have been issued a notice by the government to take some steps for the disposal of the waste properly. We took that sludge from them and used it as a replacement for fine aggregate.
Our research aims to study the performance of sludge as a replacement of fine aggregate instead of sand. Sludge (fine aggregate) for entire research work was obtained from US Apparel and Textile (Pvt) Ltd, Lahore.
The properties of concrete mix studied were compressive strength, flexural strength and Heat Resistance. The following results were obtained after testing of casted samples in the lab: -
As the amount of sand replaced by sludge increased the compressive strength of concrete decreased. When the replacement percentage is 20% strength reduces by almost 17%, for 40% replacement the strength is reduced by 39%, for 60% replacement the strength is reduced by almost 51%, for 80% replacement the strength is reduced by 64% almost and for 100% replacement the strength is reduced by 81% almost.
As the amount of sand replaced by sludge increased the flexural strength of concrete decreased. . The replacement of 20% sand with sludge caused a reduction of 20% flexural strength, 40% replacement reduced strength by 34%, 60% replacement reduced strength by 52%, 80% replacement reduced strength by 61% and 100% replacement reduced strength by a factor of 72%.
As the amount of sand replaced by sludge increased the reduction in compressive strength of concrete also increased and it was within a limit of 10% to 20%.
