Sustainable material from Mine overburden/mine tailings and industrial wastes

Abstract

The man made material developed from industrial wastes, which can replace the natural resources with minimum or no hazardous effect on environment can be named as sustainable material. The rapid growth of infrastructure needs vast amount of natural resources in general with emphasis on cementitious material. On the other traditional cementitious materials like lime and cement have become environmentally unsustainable as lime is a limited resource and manufacturing of 1 tonne of cement consumes 1.5 tons of raw materials i.e. limestone and sand and generates 0.94 tons of carbon dioxide. The mining activities has increase with increase in industrialization, but at the same time generating huge amount of wastes called as mine overburden or mine tailings. which remains toxic and hazardous to the environment when left unattended. After lime, ordinary Portland cement and its variants, geopolymer or Alkali-activated material (AAM) in general is considered as third generation cement. Hence, the present study discusses about the development of alkali activated material using industrial wastes and mine overburden. Another sustainable material, controlled low-strength material (CLSM) is being used in a wide range of civil engineering applications like structural fill, conduit bedding and sides of the embankment, is discussed using coal mine overburden, cement and fly ash. Biopolymers are produced by biological systems such as microorganisms, plants, and animals and are synthesized chemically, but they are originated from biological starting materials such as amino acids, sugars, natural fats, or oils. Because of growing awareness of environmental sustainability and stability, use of biopolymers as a cementitious material in soil stabilization is also discussed.