Experimental Investigation of Waste Glass Powder and Fly Ash as Partial Replacement for Cement in Concrete

Abstract

Concrete is one of the most widely used construction material in the World and it comprises of cement, fine aggregate, coarse aggregate and water. Cement manufacturing industry is one of the carbon dioxide emitting sources and the global cement industry contributes 7% of greenhouse gas emission to the earth’s atmosphere. In the construction industry, environmental issues are a major concern for a sustainable development by the usage of cement and concrete. Hence there is a need to look out for an alternative material to partially replacement for cement by some pozzolonic material to reduce the cement usage. As a result many researches were carried out to use waste materials like waste glass, fly ash, blast furnace slag, etc., Glass is used in many forms in our everyday life. After using it once, the glass is either stocked up or used as a land fill. Glass is an inert material that can be recycled many times without changing any of its chemical property. As glass is non-biodegradable using it as a landfill is not an environment friendly solution to the construction industry whereas if it is used as a partial replacement for cement, fine aggregate and coarse aggregate to some extent it can be less hazardous to the environment.Glass when used in powder form shows pozzolonic properties that when partially replaced with cement can achieve the required compressive strength. In India, the annual fly ash generation is about 110 million tonne but the utilization is less than 20% of its generation. The engineers have to create an awareness to utilize waste fly ash into a resourceful material in the construction industry. Fly ash of type F is available from the nearby paper industry. It has got most of the cementitious properties but it is left unused that are hazardous to the environment. It is either dumped along the roadside or as a landfill. By partially adding fly ash along with glass powder in the concrete mix increases the workability and durability of the cement concrete. Also, with the addition of fly ash along with the glass powder, the Alkali Silica Reaction can be prevented. The objective of our study is to partially replace glass powder of size 80 μm and fly ash of type F in various percentages for cement and the strength characteristics of this new type of concrete is compared with that of the conventional concrete. The test results show that the partial replacement of the glass powder and fly ash combination can be a good substitute for cement. Apart from the strength, the new type of concrete helps to recycle the waste glass powder and fly ash thereby protecting the environment and reduce the construction cost.