Investigation of engineering properties of sun-dried bottom ash based eco clay blocks

Abstract

Eco blocks can be produced by using engineering and agricultural wastes to protect ecology. Thermal power plant wastes namely fly ash and bottom ash will be a major predicament for the environment Arenas et al. (2013) [1], Aggarwal et al. (2007) [2], Datta et al. (2019) [8]. So globally, research work is being focused to find various options for using these waste materials, and making use of them in the construction industry is one of the effective methods of exploitation. In India, presently about 710 million tonnes of fly ash and bottom ash are generated every year. India's coal consumption gives two-thirds of electricity generation with 35% fly ash in India. Cement's fly ash requirement is about 151 MT will be required in 2030, but 128MT of fly ash will be remaining as unutilized. This needs an additional 2300 ha of land and 1.30 billion cubic meters of water for ash ponds exacerbates the problems of disposal of fly ash only. Bottom ash about 60MT disposal will make us miserable Asokan et al. (2005) [3]. Making use of bottom ash in equal proportion to fly ash is done in this research. A small proportion of the Natural clay has been used as a significant proportion. Coconut shells collected locally were used as reinforcing materials. The preliminary experimental investigation was done to observe the effect of fly ash, bottom ash and clay as partial replacement of cement to act as supplementary cementitious material. The compressive strength at 28 days of testing revealed that a replacement of 15% of clay, bottom ash and fly ash with equal proportions has achieved the optimum strength.