A Ph.

D RESEARCH PROPOSAL ON THE TOPIC

HOSPITAL WASTE INCINERATION ASH AS A MATERIAL IN

HIGH PERFORMANCE CONCRETE.

BY

Muktar Nuhu DANRAKA

CIVIL ENGINEERING PROGRAMME
ABUBAKAR TAFAWA BALEWA UNIVERSITY, BAUCHI.

SUBMITTED TO

UNIVERSITI PUTRA MALAYSIA

OCTOBER, 2014.

1.0

Introduction

Concrete is by far the most widely used construction material worldwide. In fact, it is
more widely used than any other material, except water. Its huge popularity is the
result of a number of well known advantages, such as economy of use, general
availability and adaptability to a wide spectrum of performance requirements. But this
popularity of concrete carries with it a great cost in terms of impact on the
environment (Mehta, 2002 and Malhotra 2000). The billions of tons of natural
materials mined and processed each year, by their sheer volume are bound to leave a
substantial mark on the environment. Most damaging are the enormous amounts of
energy required to produce Portland cement as well as the large quantities of CO2
released into the atmosphere in the process. As such various efforts are now underway
to improve the environmental friendliness of concrete. Foremost and most successful
in this regard is the use of suitable substitutes for Portland cement especially by
products from industrial, agricultural and solid waste processes.

Concrete strength particularly in compression is quite random as it is heterogeneous

mixture of different materials. An understanding of the variation of concrete strength
is essential as the present day systems are subjected to unanticipated loads like
earthquakes and hazardous environments like corrosion and environmental pollutions.
With advent of high-rise buildings and pre-stressed concrete, use of higher grades of
concrete is becoming more common for more severe conditions of exposure and for
durability considerations.

High Performance Concrete (HPC) is a concrete meeting special combinations of

performance and uniformity requirements that cannot always be achieved routinely
using conventional constituents and normal mixing, placing and curing practices.
HPC is characterized by superior level of properties: strength, workability good
consistency, dimensional stability and durability. These advantages could provide
large scale cost savings in many construction projects. HPC is being used for
structures in aggressive environments, marine structures, bridge decks and pavements,
nuclear structures, tunnels etc. The major difference between conventional concrete
and HPC is essentially the use of chemical and mineral admixtures that reduces the
water content, thereby reducing the porosity within the hydrated cement paste. This
reduction in water content to very low value can be achieved by using high dosage of
chemical admixtures. On the other hand, mineral admixtures act as pozzolanic
materials as well as fine fillers resulting in a denser and stronger microstructure of the
hardened cement matrix. It is also reported that the concrete containing cement
replacement materials typically provides lower permeability, reduced heat of
hydration, reduced alkali-aggregate reaction, higher strength at later ages and
increased resistance to attack from sulfates, However, the effect of cement
replacement materials on the performance of concrete varies markedly with their
properties. (Hassan et al. 2006).

Waste generation has increased considerably worldwide in the last few decades. Solid
wastes encompass the heterogenous mass of throwaways from the urban community
as well as the homogenous accumulations of agricultural, industrial and mineral
wastes. Hospital or biomedical waste is generated during the diagnosis, treatment, or
immunization of human beings or animals or in research activities in these fields or in
the production or testing of biological experiments. Waste generated from hospital
activities represents a real problem of living nature and human world. As such, a
proper waste management system should be required to dispose hazardous medical
waste. It has been shown that waste from hospitals presents environmental damage if
not stored properly. Many researchers have already begun to look into the problems of
storage and valorization of these wastes ( AnitaRajor and Kunal, 2011, Loubna et al.;
2011, Anastasiadou et al., 2012, Tsanakos et al., 2012, Nagendra et al., 2013).

Incineration is an increasingly favoured waste management strategy, resulting in a

considerable reduction in the mass and volume of waste. However, the resultant ash is
often classified as a hazardous waste and a rigorous waste management strategy is
necessary. The significant reduction of the initial volume of waste is one of the major
advantages of this practice (Hjelmar, 1996). The incineration process destroys
pathogens and reduces the waste volume and weight but leaves a solid material called
bio-medical waste incineration ash or hospital waste incineration ash (HWIA) as
residue which increases the levels of heavy metals, inorganic salts and other organic
compounds in the environment (Anastasiadou et al., 2012). Indiscriminate disposal of
this waste in landfills without proper treatment my cause contamination of
groundwater due to leachate as metals are not destroyed during incineration. It was
found that some trace metals in biomedical waste incineration ash exceeded
regulatory thresholds of toxicity. Those that meet these thresholds still have a great
tendency to contaminate soil and groundwater in the long term (Liang et al. 2003). In
order to minimize leaching of its hazardous components into the environment several
studies confirmed the successful utilization of hospital waste ash in agriculture and as
structural and constructional material ( AnitaRajor andKunal, 2011, Loubna et al.,
2011, Anastasiadou et al., 2012, Mimilidou et al., 2012, Tsanakos et al., 2012,
Nagendra et al., 2013). The potential use of the methods to immobilise hazardous
wastes is also of great interest as industries worldwide attempt both to remediate
contaminated sites and to minimise the need for future remediation projects.

1.2

Problem Statement

Energy savings, limited space and high cost for land disposal coupled with the
dangerous character associated with this kind of waste led the development of
recycling technologies/processes/systems that are economical and effective. Thus, the
re-use of Hospital Waste Incineration Ash (HWIA) as a structural and constructional
material is envisaged as one of the ways of mitigating the problems of disposal

associated with this kind of waste as well as to reduce the quantity of cement in
concrete with a view to producing greener concrete.

1.3

Aim and Objectives

The aim of this research is to investigate the feasibility of addressing the potential use
of hospital waste incineration ash in Portland cement based high performance
concrete mixtures.

The principal objectives are :(a) Characterization of the HWIA.

(b) Study on the microstructure of immobilised wastes and looking at changes in the
microstructure upon leaching.
(c) Studies of the interaction with Portland cement
(d) Study of the stability of the resultant materials
(e) Investigations on the mechanical properties of the ash concrete
(f) Durability study on the hardened cement based matrix and its behaviour to
leaching.
(g) Optimizing the concrete mixture composition using Response Surface
Methodology.

1.4

Materials and Methods

1.4.1 Background on Statistical Methods

1.4.1.1 Response Surface Methodology
Response surface methodology (RSM) consists of a set of statistical methods that can
be used to develop, improve, or optimize products. RSM is used in situations where
several factors (in the case of concrete, the proportions of individual component
materials) influence one or more performance characteristics, or responses (the fresh
and hardened properties of the concrete). RSM may be used to optimize one or more
responses (e.g. maximize strength, minimize cost or chloride penetration), or to meet
a given set of specifications (e.g. a minimum strength specification or an allowable
range of slump values).There are three general steps that comprise RSM:
experimental design, modelling and optimization.
Concrete is a mixture of several components. Water, Portland cement, fine and coarse
aggregates form a basic concrete mixture. Various chemical and mineral admixtures,
as well as other materials such as fibres, may also be added. For a given set of
materials, the proportions of the components directly influence the properties of the
concrete mixture, both fresh and hardened.

1.4.2 Materials
The following materials would be used during the course of the experiments
throughout the study:(i)Cement:- ASTM type 1 Portland cement (ordinary Portland cement (OPC)
would be used.
Fine aggregate: - River sand obtained from local suppliers and conforming to(ii)
standard specifications would be used.
Coarse aggregate: - Crushed stone of a nominal maximum size of 20mm and(iii)
conforming to standard specifications would be used.
Hospital waste incineration ash: - This would be collected and thoroughly(iv)
characterised. The method of collection and characterization would be in
accordance with the standard specifications.
Water:- Potable drinking water would be used for mixing the concrete(v)
throughout the study
(vi) Super plasticizer:- A Type I chloride-free sulfonate naphthalene formaldehyde
based super plasticizer meeting ASTM specifications would be used.

1.4.3 Methods of tests on materials

The following experiments would be conducted on each of these materials:Cement
Chemical composition
Consistency test
Setting time test
Soundness test
Fine aggregate
Sieve analysis
Specific gravity test
Bulk density test
Coarse aggregate
Sieve analysis
Bulk density
Aggregate impact value test (AIV)
Aggregate crushing value test (ACV)
Hospital waste incinerator ash (HWIA) The analytical methods that would be
employed includes combination of advanced characterisation techniques such as :Isothermal calorimetry
Thermal analysis
X-ray diffraction analysis (XRD)

Scanning electron microscopy (SEM)

Inductive coupled plasma (ICP)

All the above would be conducted in accordance with relevant British and American
norms.
Test on Portland cement/ash mortar
Consistency
Setting time
Conduction calorimetry
Compressive strength
Water absorption
Density
Leaching test for heavy metals
All experiments would be carried out based on relevant British standards.
Test on HWIA Concrete
Workability
Compressive strength
Flexural strength
Splitting tensile
All experiments would be carried out based on relevant British standards.

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