Strength characteristics of concrete with brine and olive oil mill wastewaters

Abstract

Concrete industry consumes large amount of water during mixing, curing and washing that in role increase the demand pressure on water resources especially in countries that meet water scarcity. On the other hand, large amount of wastewaters are discharged to surrounding streams from desalination plants and olive oil mills that in role impacted the surrounding environment and deteriorate water quality. We have tested the compressive strength of concrete mixtures mixed with brine water and olive oil mill wastewater added at different percentages as a part of sustainably development and water reuse management. The percentages of added brine water and olive oil wastewater to freshwater adjusted to 5%, 7.5%, 10%, 15%, 20%, 30% and 40%, and the compressive strengths were tested for curing days of 7, 14, 21, and 28 days. Triplicate samples are prepared for each percentage and curing day and mean values were calculated and compared with reference concrete sample prepared with freshwater. The compressive strength have been noticed to decrease with the increase in the percentage of added olive oil mill wastewater with clear change in the surface color and workability. Furthermore, the strength rate of concrete samples has increased in a linear manner with increasing the percentage of brine water to freshwater.