Influence of Waste Paper Sludge Ash (WPSA) and Fine Recycled Concrete Aggregate (FRCA) on the Compressive Strength Characteristic of Foamed Concrete

Abstract

In the effort to produce sustainable concrete, considerable attempt has been placed on replacing the main ingredients in concrete mixtures with more sustainable materials with the objective to reduce the carbon footprint. One of the replacement materials is waste paper sludge ash (WPSA), a local industrial by-product generated abundantly by newsprint mills which possesses considerable cementitious properties. Parallel to this, the high amount of construction waste, particularly concrete waste has become a difficult environmental issue to cope with in todays world. For this reason, recycling of concrete waste as a new alternative aggregate is being effectively utilized in concrete production. Thus, this paper reports on a study conducted to evaluate the compressive strength characteristics of the potential of using WPSA as a binder and fine recycled concrete aggregate (FRCA) as a virgin sand replacement in producing foamed concrete. The findings of this study exhibited that the inclusion of WPSA and FRCA for replacement ratios up to 20% and 15% respectively has significantly influenced the strength properties of foamed concrete.