The students of Kongu Engineering College, Erode have come up with an innovative idea which can recycle certain waste products into useful products. The idea was demonstrated by the students in a Carbon Zero competition organised by IIT Madras and also won an award for their innovative idea.
Their idea was the recycle the concrete waste generated after the construction and demolition of a building and convert it into construction blocks like hollow or paver blocks. The interesting part in this is that these recycled materials are more durable and strong than the conventional bricks and blocks.
The government has also granted permission to carry out this process and patents have been filed by the students for the manufacturing process as well as for equipments required for the process.
Their idea was the recycle the concrete waste generated after the construction and demolition of a building and convert it into construction blocks like hollow or paver blocks. The interesting part in this is that these recycled materials are more durable and strong than the conventional bricks and blocks.
The recycling process
The waste from the debris is carefully segregated using a simple and economic process and is crushed to produce recycled aggregates of different particle sizes. The crushed material is then mixed with Sodium Silicate, which acts as an agent to reduce porosity, increase the strength and helps the material to bind well . Then the mixture undergoes a carbonation process where C02 is injected into the material at varying pressures. Finally the material is mixed with cement & water to mould them into blocks and then dried to get the final product.
Advantages
This method helps us to convert the waste from construction sites and are made useful thereby saving the environment. Moreover, the CO2 in our environment which is currently at an alarming rate can be used for this process and the Carbon-Dioxide used for this process makes the product more durable and can't be cracked easily which is one of the major drawbacks in the recycled products currently found in the market. Water usage is reduced as the manufacture of materials currently requires water for curing which is not necessary for this process as waster is replaced by Sodium Silicate.
The government has also granted permission to carry out this process and patents have been filed by the students for the manufacturing process as well as for equipments required for the process.
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