Morphology and Physical Analysis of Waste Paper Sludge Ash (WPSA) Polymeric Mortar

Abstract

Waste paper sludge ash (WPSA) is a byproduct and problematic waste of paper industries. The investigation was driven by the increasing demand for reuse options in paper-recycling industry. This paper present on the morphology and physical analysis studies on polymerization of WPSA mortar. Two (2) types of polymeric mortar mixes containing WPSA with alkaline activators and without alkaline activators were prepared. The morphology of each mixes was determined using Spectra Electron Microscope (SEM) and the physical test is focus on compressive strength. However, the element diffraction of each mixes using Energy Dispersive X-Ray Spectroscopy (EDX) was also carried out as a method to identify the polymerization of polymeric mortar. From the result obtained it is found that the utilization of WPSA reduced the polymerization of polymeric mortar due to more pores. From the EDX analysis it is also revealed that the WPSA polymeric mortar also contained less synthetic aluminous silicate compound. However, the strength gain up to 6MPa and it is comparable with other high calcium material mortar.