Phosphogypsum

As a building material
Several million tons of phosphogypsum is produced across the world and is generally stacked up as a waste material due to its radioactive nature. Studies are being done to put this to use in several fields including construction of buildings as a partial substitute for Portland cement..

2013
Aparna Kumar Rajalakshmi School of Architecture 4/20/2013

INTRODUCTION The wet process phosphoric acid is manufactured by reacting ground phosphate rock with sulphuric acid in a series of mixing tanks. After separation by filtration, the phosphoric acid is the liquid product and phosphogypsum (calcium sulphate) is the solid by-produce waste. For each ton of wet process phosphoric acid, there are approximately 5 tons of phosphogypsum produced. Phosphogypsum is pumped with recycled transported water to disposal sites or stored as "stacks". Over a billion tons of phosphogypsum have been stacked already and over 40 million new tons are produced each year. For this purpose vast stretches of land are used up.

Phosphogypsum has been subjected to extensive investigation at the University of Miami, since May 1, 1983, under the sponsorship of the Florida Institute of Phosphate Research. Phosphogypsum was found to be a good construction material. With proper moisture content and high

compaction force phosphogypsum can achieve compressive strength over 1,000 pounds per square inch. Current construction practice in building secondary roads consists of mixing generally granular soil subgrade with find-grained soils transported to the site. Granular soil such as sand is abundant throughout Florida. However, lack of adequate sources of fine-grained soils such as clay has been a major concern of road builders. Laboratory tests indicate that phosphogypsum and sand mixtures have higher compressive strength than that of clay and sand mixtures. Since phosphogypsum is abundantly available in the State of Florida, the construction cost of a road utilizing phosphogypsum and sand mixtures would be much lower than that of a road built with clay and sand mixtures. Engineering properties of phosphogypsum, cement and sand mixtures were found to behave similarly to that of conventional cement mortar. Consolidation by compaction based to is particularly because advantageous of the In for the of

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phosphogypsum can also be used as a partial substitution of Portland cement when phosphogypsum based cement mortar is placed by compaction. Like conventional cement mortar, phosphogypsum-based cement mortar is high in compressive strength while low in tensile strength. Abaca and steel fibres can be added to the mixtures to improve cracking resistance and ductility. AS A BUILDING MATERIAL

Building products such as brick, block, panel and roof tile were fabricated in the materials laboratory of the University of Miami, utilizing

phosphogypsum and phosphogypsum mixtures. Two concrete canoes and one modular building were constructed utilizing phosphogypsum based cement mortar. A phosphogypsum-based concrete parking lot ramp was also built at the University of Miami. The modular house built with phosphogypsum-based mixture was used for a radiation emission study with three different experimental techniques to monitor indoor radon level. All measurements indicate that radiation exposure inside the house is low The total world-wide production of phosphogypsum is approximately 120 million tonnes/year (39% of which is in the United States and Canada) corresponding to almost twice the world's present day demand of natural gypsum. Currently, only 4% of the phosphogypsum amount is utilized by the gypsum and cement industries, whereas the bulk of the production has to be disposed of and, depending upon the economic and ecological circumstances, the procedures may consist of: wet stacking (pumping of slurried waste to the sedimentation ponds); dry stacking (transportation to the disposal site by trucks or belt conveyors) and discharge to river and sea. It has been found that phosphogypsum subjected to consolidation by compaction can be transformed into a solid of valuable strength. Observing the fact that piles of phosphogypsum (over 200 feet high) stand very well by themselves, it would be logical to assume that this material has appreciable shear strength. Phosphogypsum subjected to

compaction force, can be transformed into a solid of valuable strength. Laboratory study on consolidation of phosphogypsum consists of impact compaction (Standard Proctor method and Modified Proctor method) and static compaction.

Although phosphogypsum possesses significant strength under air dry conditions, low strength is observed when it contains excessive moisture. Moisture susceptibility of phosphogypsum is observed when specimens are tested after placing them in the moisture room for different periods to absorb varying amounts of moisture. It can be seen that moisture content affects phosphogypsum strength to such an extent that even a small increase in the amount of moisture produces a significant drop in strength.

ENGINEERING PROPERTIES OF PHOSPHOGYPSUM AND SAND MIXTURES FOR SECONDARY ROAD AND PAVEMENT The secondary road with phosphogypsum and sand mixtures will be placed directly over a generally fine sand subgrade. A thin asphalt 58 concrete surface layer will be added on the top of the phosphogypsum sand mixture base to provide a better performance for the expected traffic volume and to meet the requirement specified in the computer program.

Therefore, the pavement will consist of three layers: a) an asphalt concrete surface layer with thickness of 1 in., b) a base layer composed of the optimum phosphogypsum-sand mixture (as determined previously) with a thickness to be determined and given later according to AASHTO Standard, based on the experimental results, c) a deep clay-sand subgrade. ENGINEERING PROPERTIES OF PHOSPHOGYPSUM-BASED CEMENT MORTAR Portland cement is the most common binder used in the construction industry. Its applications range from high strength concrete to soil stabilization, depending on the cement content and aggregate properties. Mixtures containing portland cement, dihydrate or hemihydrate

phosphogypsum in combination with fine aggregate (crushed limerock) were investigated. The characteristics of the product obtained, primarily depend on mix ratios and placement technique. The latter plays an important role because it is closely related to the water demand and the properties of phosphogypsum. Specimens were prepared by three different methods: dynamic compaction, static compaction and highfrequency vibration. It was found that for preparation by compaction and low cement content, phosphogypsum contribution to strength was remarkable when testing air-dried specimens. Such characteristic is due to the self-adhesive property of gypsum when subjected to a compressional force. The emphasis of this chapter is placed upon determining strength properties in unconfined compression and tension (splitting or modulus of rapture) of phosphogypsum-cement-fine aggregate mixtures with

particular attention to testing conditions in terms of water content.

Studies presented in previous chapters, have established that not only plain phosphogypsum, but also phosphogypsum-based mixtures are highly influenced by the moisture content at the time of testing. The following specimen conditions at the time of testing will be addressed: 1) Air-Dry: indicating that the specimen had been removed from the curing environment (sealed or 100% humidity room) and maintained in openshelf, laboratory conditions 69 for 2 days. The resultant moisture content of all specimens was below 3%. 2) Sealed: indicating that the specimen was tested with the moisture content resulting from sealed curing. Sealed curing was obtained by tightly wrapping the specimen with a plastic membrane after removal from the mold. The 28-day moisture content was approximately 2.5% lower than the moisture content of the mix at the time of compaction. 3) Soaked: indicating that the specimen was removed from the curing environment (sealed or 100% humidity room) and submerged in water for a 2-day period unless otherwise specified. CONCLUSION: Phosphogypsum as a building material would provide as an effective solution as a substitute for Portland cement, as a mixture for concrete for applications in infrastructural purposes such as laying of roads,

construction of buildings, etc. The major advantages are that it is cost effective due to its abundance and easy time efficient since it dries and sets quicker than regular cements and concrete mixtures. But the major drawback is its rapid decrease in strength due to the presence of moisture which may be

overcome by the addition of asphalt in small quantities the other drawback is the radioactive nature of the material. Though it is very low, people may be reluctant to use it. THE END