Valorization of the wheat crop stubble ash in eco-efficient concrete

Abstract

Nearly 14% of the global wheat production is contributed by India. However, crop production supports the welfare of millions of people; crop residue management has remained a huge challenge. As of today, the primary option of wheat crop stubble removal is either the on-site incineration or feedstock and partial inclusion in product manufacturing. These options do not exploit the potential of the waste material in a large quantity. On the other hand, natural construction materials have reached the edge of complete loss in many parts of the country. It is desirable to valorise the agricultural wastes for construction applications. In the present paper, efforts are made to utilize the wheat stubble ash in concrete as a partial replacement of the conventional concrete making materials to check the feasibility to develop a sustainable construction material. The material flow analysis for wheat stubble has been presented. The experimental investigations on the concrete specimens prepared with the wheat straw stubble ash (WSA), showed acceptable results. The potential of WSA in preliminary construction applications as an eco-efficient material has been established. The study showed that the correlation of agricultural waste and concrete can achieve the sustainable development goals (SDG) for the developing countries.