Article Information
Utilization of Hospital Waste Ash in Concrete

Keywords: Hospital Waste Ash, Compressive Strength, X-Ray Diffraction, Scanning Electron Microscopy.

Mehran University Research Journal of Engineering & Technology

Volume 32 ,  Issue 1

SHAZIM ALI  MEMON,MUHAMMAD ALI   SHEIKH,MUHAMMAD BILAL   PARACHA

Abstract

Hospital waste management is a huge problem in Pakistan. The annual production of medical waste produced from health care facilities, in Pakistan, is around 250,000 tons. This research paper is intended to evaluate the feasibility of using of hospital waste ash obtained from Pakistan Institute of Medical Sciences, Rawalpindi, Pakistan, as partial replacement of cement. The main variable in this research is the amount of hospital waste ash (2, 4, 6 and 8% by weight of cement) while the amount of cementitious material, water to cementitious material ratio, fine and coarse aggregate content were kept constant. Test results substantiate that hospital waste ash can be used in concrete. XRD (X-Ray Diffraction) of hospital waste ash showed that it is rich in calcite while scanning electron micrographs indicated that the particles of hospital waste ash have highly irregular shape. The slump value, density of fresh concrete and water absorption decreased with the increase in the quantity of hospital waste ash in the mix. At 3 days of testing, the compressive strength of mixes with hospital waste ash was higher than the control mix while at 7 and 28 days the CM (Control Mix) showed higher strength than the hospital waste ash mixes except the mix containing 2% hospital waste ash by weight of cement.