Transforming municipal solid waste into construction materials

Abstract

Rapid urbanisation and the associated infrastructure development are creating a deficit of conventional construction materials and straining the natural resources. On the other hand, municipal solid waste (MSW) disposal poses a serious environmental problem. Landfilling of MSW is both costly and polluting. Incineration of MSW to generate energy is a commonly adopted approach. However, there are concerns associated with micro pollutants emitted from the combustion process. The carbon footprint of the process and the environmental cost-benefit balancing are disputable. There is clearly a need to adopt cost-effective alternatives to treat MSW. This paper proposes the potential application of "treated" MSW as an ingredient for construction materials. The treatment process involves placing MSW in an autoclave at 150 °C with 5 bars (0.5 MPa), followed by the separation of metals, plastics and glass for recycling purposes. The end-product, which is a semi-organic mixture (referred to as 'biomass'), is passed through a vortex-oscillation system, which makes it more uniform as a material. Compressive testing of Portland cement-based pastes containing 10% and 15% biomass shows consistency in the results, demonstrating the potential use of biomass in construction materials.