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Environmental-friendly mortar produced with treated and untreated coal wastes as cement replacement materials

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Abstract

This study aims to examine the influence of untreated coal waste (UCW) and treated coal waste (TCW) as supplementary cementitious materials (SCMs) on the environmental, mechanical, durability, and microstructural characteristics of mortar mixes. UCW preparation procedure consists of sequential steps of crushing and grinding. Afterward, UCW is thermally activated through incinerating at 750 °C to be promoted to TCW. Experimental work includes mixing mortar mixtures by partially replacing cement with the coal waste binders (UCW and TCW) at different incorporation levels of 4, 8, 12, and 16% of cement weight. Toxicity characteristic leaching procedure (TCLP) test was applied to investigate the environmental impacts of coal wastes. TCLP test results pointed out that heavy metals including manganese, cadmium, lead, and chromium could successfully entrap in the cement matrix. The compressive and flexural strengths as mechanical characteristics of mortar mixtures were determined at 3, 7, 28, 90, and 180 curing days. Moreover, the mortar specimens were immersed in 3% sulfuric acid (H2SO4) for 60 and 150 days. Durability results showed that the H2SO4 attack resistance of binary cement mortars containing 4% coal waste binders performed better than the plain mortar. Based on the scanning electron microscopy (SEM) images, ettringite was found as the main hydration product of binary cement after 28 days; however, the existence of calcium silicate hydrate (CSH) and calcium hydroxide (Ca(OH)2) in the cement matrix after 90 days explains the more compact microstructure attained by using coal waste as cement replacement materials compared to control mixtures.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Jacobs Engineering Group Inc, Omaha, NE, USA

    Mostafa Soltaninejad

  2. Islamic Azad University of Bardsir, Kerman, Iran

    Mosleh Soltaninejad & Mohammadreza Khosravi Moshizi

  3. Missouri University of Science and Technology, Missouri, MO, USA

    Farshad Saberi K

  4. Babol Noshirvani University of Technology, Babol, Iran

    Vahid Sadeghi

  5. Islamic Azad University, Najafabad branch, Najafabad, Iran

    Peyman Jahanbakhsh

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  1. Mostafa Soltaninejad
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  2. Mosleh Soltaninejad
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  3. Farshad Saberi K
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  4. Mohammadreza Khosravi Moshizi
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  5. Vahid Sadeghi
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Correspondence to Mostafa Soltaninejad.

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Soltaninejad, M., Soltaninejad, M., K, F.S. et al. Environmental-friendly mortar produced with treated and untreated coal wastes as cement replacement materials. Clean Techn Environ Policy 23, 2843–2860 (2021). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10098-021-02204-x

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10098-021-02204-x

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