Hospital Ash Waste-Ordinary Portland Cement Concrete

Abstract

This work is part of the on-going research work in the Civil Engineering Department of Abubakar Tafawa Balewa University, Bauchi Nigeria. The work is on characterizing and utilization of hospital waste ash (HWA) in the production of concrete. This work is important in the light of the recent happenings in Nigeria, where cases of Ebola and Lassa fever diseases have been mentioned and most recently, the fear of the Zika disease. The need for adequate study on the data on management, handling and disposal of hospital waste, is of paramount importance to prevent relapse A study on the incineration ash was undertaken in order to assess the material’s adequacy for concrete production. The results showed that the ash contains relatively high percentage of CaO (47%), which has cementing value and thus, can be used for cement manufacture. The hydration characteristics showed it is pozzolanic in nature and the setting times values showed that HWA can be used as a retarder, especially for hot weather concreting. The ash was used as partial replacements for cement in proportions of 0 to 40% by weight of cement to make concrete cubes that were cured for periods of 3 days to 90 days. The results showed that water absorption increased with increase in the replacement levels, while the compressive strength decreased accordingly. The work was taken further by developing statistical relationships between the slump, water absorption and compressive strengths.