Abstract
Increased water demand due to population growth and industrialization has led to increased water consumption. Hence, it is required to find an alternative to water in different industries. Concrete represents a remarkable water-consuming industry. The present study investigates whether the treated leachate of municipal landfills can be employed as a substitute for water in the concrete mixing scheme. For this purpose, concrete samples fabricated at different concentrations of treated leachates were compared to the control sample containing distilled water in terms of unconfined compressive strength (UCS) at the ages of 7 and 28days. The experimental results revealed treated leachate accelerated the cement setting time by nearly 15min and increased concrete slumping by 16%. The complete replacement of distilled water with treated leachate decreased UCS by 25% (from 50 to 38MPa). The scanning electron microscope (SEM) and ultrasonic results showed that a rise in the treated leachate content of concrete increased porosity. Increased porosity would reduce UCS. Leaking of heavy metals existing in the leachate should be also investigated for the solidified matrices. The toxicity characteristic leaching procedure (TCLP) revealed that heavy metals leaching in all the samples are in the acceptable range. Results have shown that the use of leachate up to a concentration of 20% can be used in concrete, and the solidified product can also stabilize the pollutants, successfully. It is a valuable finding because using treated leachate as a practical additive in the concrete can prevent environmental contamination.
Highlights
The landfilling of municipal solid waste (MSW) has been greatly interesting in light of its easy process and affordability
The present study investigates whether the treated leachate of municipal landfills can be employed as a substitute for water in the concrete mixing scheme
The treated leachate shortened the initial cement setting time; it can be said that the results are consistent with the ASTM-C191 and BSI 3148 Standards
Summary
The landfilling of municipal solid waste (MSW) has been greatly interesting in light of its easy process and affordability. As it contains heavy metals and dangerous organic and inorganic compounds, the leachates of landfills are considered as a serious threat to the environment (Xu et al 2018). It equals 52,000 tons of domestic waste every day Such waste has a high content of biodegradable organic matter (60–70%), with remarkable leachate quantities. Concrete is the second most-consumed material in the world (Luhar et al 2019) It consists 7–15% of cement, nearly 14–21% of water, and 60–75% of aggregates (Shekarchi et al 2012). As global warming and drought are increasing in many countries, it is becoming an international challenge to identify a suitable substitute for freshwater in construction
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