Green Concrete from Industrial Waste - Case Study Example

Also, numerous dangerous substances like concentrated carbon monoxide, sulfur oxides, oxides of nitrogen, and the particulate matter in suspension are continually being produced in the atmosphere at the time of their production process of the construction materials.The toxic matters emitted to the atmosphere contaminate air, soil, water, fauna, and aquatic animals and, therefore, pose impacts on human health and their standard of living.Hence, the concern for protecting the environment has come up as the center of interest in society in recent years (Calkins 2009).

Great attention has been given to the conservation of the environment, and this includes the political leaders, economists, social sectors who are currently advocating for environmental protection.As a result, considerable changes concerning the conservation of available natural endowments and industrial waste recycling through better management have come up in place lately to replace the utilization of natural resources as construction materials.Due to much need for environmental and economic sustainability in development, many regulative authorities and other investigative organs have come up to work together to use recyclable industrial waste as the building material for making concrete (Brito 2013).

One of the most innovative efforts is to use industrial waste as a construction material for making green concrete. These industrial waste materials are obtained through recycling in a proper recycling process. Using industrial waste as the concrete material in construction is on the rise daily, and the demand is increasing daily.Recycling industrial waste helps reduce the scarcity of raw material, reducing the cost of construction, and reducing the prices of energy.The use of recyclable materials has become a global concern especially in saving the environment and promoting sustainability in development (Calkins 2009).

Because of these, the need for the use of recyclable industrial waste as the building material came up as a point of concern in this proposal.

Problem Statement Construction have been got from the natural sources and due to over-exploitation of these resources their amount are reducing and in the end there will be no more natural resources if no alternative is found. In other words, there have been significant productions of industrial products from various industries. Because of mass production of goods, the amount of industrial waste generated from these industries is rising daily. This is bringing many difficulties in solid industrial solid waste management.

These waste materials are posing the threat to the environment and, as a result, lead to pollution of the environment and caused health problem to the people. Due to over-exploitation of these natural resources and massive industrial waste, an alternative has been identified for the investigation. The alternative identified for research is the use of industrial waste in making green concrete to solve the problems of over-exploitation of natural resources and providing good practice of using industrial waste.

Significance of the study Basing on the relevant studies on the suitability of industrial waste as the material for making green concrete, this study will strengthen the applicability of the industrial waste utilization and in the concrete industry. Alternative concrete will help in reducing the risk of environmental pollution due to dumping of these industrial wastes and, therefore, protect the environment and its components. The result of various industrial waste that are used for making green concrete will help in increasing their utilization and reduce the cost of their management and environmental pollution.

Purpose of study The purpose of this study is to investigate the suitability of industrial waste as the material for making green concrete instead of relying on the natural resources to be used in construction. Develop a better alternative process of recycling the industrial waste to be used as the construction materials Definitions The key terms are concrete, industrial waste, construction materials, and efficient concrete. Concrete Concrete refers to the mixture of cement, fine aggregates, coarse aggregates, admixtures (if needed) and water.

Concrete is one of the most prevalent materials used in many constructions such as dams, building, roads, power stations, slender high stressed buildings and structure like bridges (King 2005). Concrete is used in making many buildings units like those that concrete block (solid and hollow) roofing tiles, paving slabs and pipes like culverts. Industrial waste Industrial waste is the collection of industrial by-products that are not needed for use and are always taken and dumped away. Industrial waste include fly ash, stone crusher waste, plastic waste, steel waste from steel making industries, marble waste, etc.

(Kubba 2012) These industrial wastes are selected and used as the construction material particularly for making green concrete and the selection of these materials to be used in making green concrete shall be based on the following criteria: Resource Efficiency; the efficiency of the resources shall be based on the ease of recyclability, renewability, efficiency in the process of manufacturing. The material should be easy to obtain i.e. locally available and should be durable once it has been used in making the green concrete.

Indoor Air Quality; the quality of the air in the building shall be met by using the material that have low level of toxicity, low level of chemical emissions, has high resistance to moistures, and has less harm to human health. Energy Efficiency; the use of industrial waste in making green concrete should be in a position to consume less energy drying their recycling and manufacturing processes. Materials from industrial waste are essential because they need less amount of energy during the construction period especially in making green concrete.

Conservation of water; water and its resources conservation are of great importance because these industrial wastes (material) are always a threat to water and its natural resources, therefore, reuse of these resources in making green concrete.