CHAPTER 1

INTRODUCTION
1.1 General
Concrete is the most broadly used construction material in the building industry. It is an
extensively used man-made construction material and is often said to be the second most
essential substance consumed on Earth, after water. The reasons for this popularity are well
known. If properly designed and produced, concrete has excellent mechanical and durability
properties. It is mouldable, adaptable, relatively fire resistant, generally available, and
affordable. Maybe its most intriguing characteristic is the fact that it is an engineered
material, which means it can be engineered to satisfy almost any reasonable set of
performance specifications, more so than any other material currently available.
The rapidly growing industrialization, urbanization and population significantly increased the
demands and developments in the construction industry. Concrete has gained a vital role in
the construction industry because of its low price, the convenience of its raw materials, high
compressive strength and durability. The properties of concrete are significantly influenced
by the characteristics of aggregates which typically occupy a total of 65–80% of its volume.
It is predicted by the global aggregates construction market that aggregate demand will be
increased up to 59% by the end of 2025. Nowadays, many countries, due to a shortage of
natural resources, are facing problems and depend on imports to fulfil their demands.
Concrete ingredients are used on a large scale, and the usage of coarse aggregates from rocks
causes a particularly fast reduction in natural resources, thus welcoming disasters in the form
of global warming and land sliding.
To reduce the detrimental impacts associated with concrete production the conservation of
raw materials needs to be emphasized. Coarse aggregates typically occupy 65–70% of the
concrete’s total volume. Efforts are required by the modern world to take important steps in
order to save nature without compromising on the overall performance of concrete. Recently
several attempts have been conducted with the aim of replacing natural components of the
concrete with recycled waste. Therefore, several other alternatives in concrete to natural
aggregates such Concrete ingredients are used on a large scale, and the usage of coarse
aggregates from rocks causes a particularly fast reduction in natural resources, thus
welcoming disasters in the form of global warming and land sliding. To reduce the
detrimental impacts associated with concrete production the conservation of raw materials
needs to be emphasized. Efforts are required by the modern world to take important steps in
order to save nature without compromising on the overall performance of concrete.
Recently several attempts have been conducted with the aim of replacing natural aggregate
with recycled aggregate like
Coconut shell Glass fibres
Fly ash Recycled tires
Ground granulated blast furnace slag (GGBFS) Recycled tires
Silica fume Construction and demolition waste
Nowadays, the use of modern electronic appliances turns out to be an important part of our
daily life. Due to the technological innovation, upgrade and advancement of technological
products, the rate of obsolescence of electronic equipment has also increased, thus making E-
waste an emerging waste in the world.
Electronic waste (e-waste) is the fastest growing waste on the planet, with an annual growth
rate of 3–4%. Compared to other waste products, the degradation process of E-waste is
comparatively more challenging, thereby significantly damaging the environment. It was
reported that in 2013, the production of plastic products reached around 299 million tons. The
Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) of the United States (US) estimates that annually
about 6–10% of E-waste generation increases, out of which only 5% is recycled globally.
Hence, the appropriate recycling and disposal of E-waste products are needed to protect the
environment from its hazardous, adverse, and detrimental effects.

1.2 Need of the Project

• Disposal - of waste plastic is a serious environmental issue all around the globe, on
account of its health hazard and difficulty in land filling. The high cost of disposal
and the requirement of large landfill area often result in random and illegal dumping
of waste plastic. The reuse of E-waste as a substitute for aggregate in concrete
production can help in mitigating and addressing the environmental pollution
problems related to plastic. Recycling E-waste is an effective technique for
minimizing solid waste, reducing the hazardous and harmful environmental impacts.
• Depletion of natural resource – To reduce consumption of natural resources, one of
the best solutions is to incorporate waste plastic in the construction industry to
produce green concrete.
• Enhancing the properties of concrete – Concrete has limited properties such as low
tensile strength, low ductility, and low impact energy absorption There are many
concrete components and structures subject to impact loads, for instance, wall panels,
bridge decks, hydraulic structures, and industrial floors, airport pavements, highway
paving. Therefore, higher resistance to impact loads and load carrying capacity are
required in this kind of applications industrial floors, airport pavements, highway
paving. Therefore, higher resistance to impact loads and load carrying capacity are
required in this kind of applications. On the replacement ratios of plastic waste
ranged from 0 to 20% by volume of coarse aggregate the significant increase in
tensile strength is seen. With strength durability of the concrete also increases.
• Reducing the overall cost of production of concrete

1.3 OBJECTIVE
The major aim of this project:

• Evaluation of concrete properties when coarse aggregate is partially replaced with e-

waste at 10 % 20 % and 30% in concrete.
• Testing compressive strength, flexural strength and split tensile strength of concrete.
• To create and advance e-waste management technology.
• To reduce as for as possible the accumulation of use and discarded electronic and
electrical equipment’s and transfer the waste into socially and industrially beneficial
raw material using simple, low cost and environmentally friendly technology.
1.4 Planning of Work
The mix design has been performed for the M40 grade of concrete according to IRC 44-2019.
The proportion of cement, sand, and aggregate is 1:1.44:2.78 and 0.32 W/C ratio. The cube,
cylinder, and beam have been cast for testing compressive and flexural strength. The standard
size of the cube is 150*150*150 mm, cylinder is 150*300mm and the beam size is
100*100*500 mm.

Test to be performed Casting

Compressive Strength Conventional With E-Waste

(10% ,20% & 30 %)

Flexural Strength
➢ 6 Cube ➢ 18 Cube
Split Tensile Strength ➢ 6 Beam ➢ 18 Beam
➢ 6 Cylinder ➢ 18 Cylinder

In this way, all cubes, cylinders, and beams have been tested for compressive strength,
flexural strength, and split tensile strength. For making concrete, 43 grade ordinary Portland
cement according to IS: 8112-2013, locally available sand belonging to Zone 3 and a
maximum 20mm size angular aggregate were used. The super plasticizer from Hind Plast
Super chemical company is used to reduce the W/C ratio. Portable water used for making
concrete from SGSITS Lab. E-Waste has been collected from SGSITS which includes
keyboards and mouse and then sent for crushing. Crushed e-waste is used in casting.

After removing cubes, beams, and cylinders from the mould, each cube, beam, and cylinder
were kept in the immersion curing tank for a period of 7 days and 28 days for curing. After a
7-day and 28-day curing period, specimens were tested for compressive, flexural strength,
and split tensile strength after completely drying them in sunlight.

1.5 Constituents of Concrete

1.Cement

Cement is a binding material and is a most important part of concrete. Various types of
cement are available in the market and each type of cement shows different behaviour
according to their special properties such as high strength cement, low strength cement, rapid
hardening cement, low heat cement, etc.
Cement is used for various purposes in construction work like cement mortar, concrete and
many more. The term cement is derived from the Latin word cementum which means stone
chippings. The bonding properties in cement is due to its adhesive and cohesive properties. In
1904 near Madras, South India Industries Ltd. was the first company to produce Portland
cement in India. The first cement manufacturing factory of India was India Cements Ltd. at
Porbandar.

Ordinary Portland Cement and Pozzolanic Portland Cement are most commonly used types
of cement. OPC is generally used in PQC (Pavement Quality Concrete) due to their high
strength. It is a mixture of various aluminates and silicates of calcium which is produced by
the interaction of numerous oxides during fusion. OPC is classified on the basis of their
compressive strength which is obtained after continuous curing for 28 days. OPC can be
divided into three grades namely 33 grades, 43 grade and 53 grade. In this study OPC of 43
grade is used for experimental studies. For 33 grade cement, 28 days compressive strength
should not be less than 33 N/mm². In similar way for 43 grade and 53 grade cement,
compressive strength should not be less than 43 N/mm² and 53 N/mm² respectively.

2. Aggregate

Aggregates are one of the most important constituents in concrete. Generally, two types of
aggregates are used in concrete; coarse aggregate and fine aggregate. Fine aggregate is
generally known as natural sand which has size less than 4.75 mm whereas the size of the
coarse aggregate shall be greater than 4.75 mm. Aggregates occupy 70% to 80% of the
volume of the concrete. Aggregates reduce shrinkage of concrete and also affect economy.
They provide body to the concrete. Aggregates also play an important role in adjudging the
properties of concrete like strength, workability, durability, etc.

3. Water

Water is a crucial component in the formation of concrete. Water is responsible for the
chemical reactions that take place in cement. Hence good quality water should be used in
concrete and looked carefully. It should be free from any type of turbidity, insoluble
substances and other chemical compounds. It forms C-S-H gel when comes in contact with
cement and imparts strength and works as lubricant for a workable concrete. The water
content governs the workability of concrete and also the strength, hence it should be used
according to the requirement and in a controlled manner. Excessive water content in concrete
is a cause of poor quality or low strength of concrete. Fundamentally, strength of concrete
depends upon the ratio of weight of water to the weight of cement. So, it can be said that
good quality water produces good quality concrete. The potable water from the lab of
SGSITS Indore is used for making concrete in this experiment.

4. Admixture

Admixtures may be mineral or chemical which can be used for getting the desired properties
of mix. Retarders, plasticizers and superplasticiser Retarders, plasticisers and super
plasticisers conforming to IS:9103 may be used up to 0.5 per cent, 1 per cent and 2 per cent
by mass of cementitious materials respectively. However, the dosages of polycarboxylate
based admixture shall not exceed 1.0 per cent. A higher % of above admixtures may be used,
if agreed upon by the manufacturer and the contractor based on performance tests related to
workability, setting time and early age strength as stipulated in IS:456.

Air entraining admixture- In freezing weather, use of air entraining admixture is

recommended to counter the freezing and thawing effect with 5.5 ± 1.5 per cent for 31.5 mm
maximum size of aggregate and 6.0±1.5 per cent for 19 mm maximum size of aggregate. The
air-entraining admixture may be used for improving the cohesiveness of the mix and to
reduce bleeding, the total quantity of air in air-entrained concrete as a percentage of the
volume of the concrete shall have 4.5 ± 1.5 per cent entrained air for 31.5 mm maximum size
of aggregate and 5.0 ± 1.5 per cent entrained air for 19 mm maximum size of aggregate.

5. E-Waste

Electronic waste or e-waste describes discarded electrical or electronic devices. Used

electronics which are destined for reuse, resale, salvage, recycling or disposal are also
considered as e-waste. Informal processing of electronic waste in developing countries may
cause serious health and pollution problems, as these countries have limited regulatory
oversight of e-waste processing.

Electronic scrap components, such as CRT ‘s (cathode Ray Tube), may contain contaminants
such as lead, cadmium, beryllium, or brominated flame retardants. Even in developed
countries recycling and disposal of e-waste may involve significant risk to workers and
communities and great care must be taken to avoid unsafe exposure in recycling operations
and leaking of materials such as heavy metals from landfills and incinerator ashes.

The environmental impact of the processing of different electronic waste components.

E-Waste Component Process Used Potential Environmental Hazard

Cathode ray tubes (used in TVs, Breaking and removal of yoke, then Lead, barium and other heavy metals leaching
computer, monitors, ATM, video Dumping. into the ground water and release of toxic
cameras, and more) De-soldering and removal of phosphor
Printed circuit board (image computer chips; open burning and Air emissions as well as discharge into rivers
behind table - a thin plate on acid baths to remove final metals of glass dust, tin, lead, brominated dioxin,
which chips and other electronic after chips are removed. beryllium cadmium, and mercury
components are placed)
Chemical stripping using nitric and Hydrocarbons, heavy metals, brominated
hydrochloric acid and burning of substances discharged directly into rivers
Chips and other gold-plated chips acidifying fish and flora. Tin and lead
components contamination of surface and groundwater. Air
emissions of brominated dioxins, heavy metals
and hydrocarbons.

Plastics from printers, keyboards, Shredding and low temp melting to Emissions of brominated dioxins, heavy
monitors, etc be reused metals and hydrocarbons.
Open burning and stripping to Hydrocarbon ashes released into air, water and
Computer wires remove copper soil