Evaluation and Assessment of Concrete Produced by Utilizing of Treated Wastewater NASER ALENEZI1

Research Associate, Kuwait Institute for Scientific Research; P.O.Box 24885 Safat, 13109; PH (965) 24989282; FAX (965) 24989099; email: naserq8@hotmail.com Kuwait Abstract

The present use of desalinated water a subsidized commodity in Kuwait, for preparation of concrete imposes indirectly a heavy burden of cost on the government, especially these days under the high demand for and shortage of supply of water in all of Kuwaits districts. There may also be shortages of water for domestic consumption in the future. Tertiary wastewater effluent from wastewater plants may be a suitable substitute for pipe-bore water. The research envisaged establishment of means to use tertiary-treated wastewater as a full or partial substitute for desalinated water in concrete preparation. For this purpose, a thorough quality analysis of wastewater was made taking into consideration the criteria and requirements of the standard specifications for the use of water in concrete. Several batches of concrete of nominal compositions were made using different proportions of wastewater. Property assessments of the fresh and hardened concrete were carried out to determine the optimum quality of water that can be used without compromising the quality or durability of the concrete. It is found that using the tertiary wastewater in concrete mix does not effect its strength.

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Introduction The construction industry in Kuwait currently uses desalinated water in the concrete industry. However, desalinated water is a subsidized commodity, and as such, the use of desalinated water indirectly imposes a heavy burden of cost on the government. Nevertheless, growth in population, agriculture and other industries consumes increasing supplies of desalinated water, and therefore, it is imperative that measures be taken to conserve desalinated water as much as possible to prevent shortages of water in the future. Although it is known that water suitable for drinking can be used in concrete, water with up to 100 parts sulfur trioxide or 50 parts chlorine per 100,000 being not objectionable for preparation of concrete. It is expected that tertiary effluent from a wastewater plant may be made suitable through experimentation and research to satisfy these requirements for use in concrete. The aim of this study is to upgrade the properties of tertiary-treated wastewater by an innovative process so that value addition is made to the wastewater and demand for desalinated water is diminished. This will be economically beneficial to both the government and the construction industry. Research has shown that water not suitable for human consumption might still be usable for mixing concrete. However, this research is limited to country-specific studies, such as one carried out in Singapore (Tay and Yip, 1987). That study indicates that compared with concrete cast with 100% potable mixing water, higher compressive strengths were observed at various ages for concrete cast with different percentages (25 to 100%) of reclaimed wastewater. The compressive strengths at ages of three months and beyond were similar to the strengths of concrete made with 100% potable mixing water. Yet another study (Chini, 1999) indicates that Type 2 wastewater (secondary wastewater from washing) has no statistically significant effect on the properties of fresh concrete (i.e., setting time, unit weight, and air content) or hardened concrete (i.e., compressive strength, flexural strength, or modulus of elasticity) when used as batch water and/or to saturate coarse aggregate in the production of concrete. The objectives of the research is realized initially by a property assessment of tertiary-treated wastewater. The water used in gradually increasing amounts with desalinated water for the preparation of specimens of concrete mixes. A parallel set of specimens made using desalinated water alone. After curing the specimens properly, a comparative physical and chemical property assessment of both types of concrete made to arrive at suitable criteria for the use of tertiary treated wastewater in concrete.

Methodology and Experimental Procedure Samples of reclaimed wastewater were collected from the sewage treatment plant and chemically analyzed as per British Standard Methods of test for water for making concrete (including notes on the suitability of the water (i.e., BS 3148, 1980). The analysis were carried out at the Central Analytical Laboratory (CAL) of the Kuwait Institute for Scientific Research (KISR). In addition, potable water was analyzed for comparison purposes.

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Concrete cubes (100 mm x 100 mm x 100 mm) prepared with the experimental mixes were used to study the effect of reclaimed wastewater on concrete strength. Also, concrete cylinders (100 mm in diameter, 200 mm long) were cast. A nominal mix composition of 1:2:4 (cement: sand: coarse aggregated) with a water-tocement ratio of 0.5 was to be used for making concrete cubes and cylinders. Several batches of concrete were made using 25%, 50%, 75%, and 100% reclaimed wastewater in the total mix water. A control mix was also made without reclaimed wastewater. The same proportion of wastewater was to be used to cure the specimens as per the American Society for Testing and Materials (ASTM C192). Cubes were tested for their compressive strength as per BS 1881: Part 116 (i.e., Method for determination of compressive strength of concrete cubes) at 7d, 14d, 28d and 90d. For each test, three specimens were to be tested, and the average value for the three was taken as the compressive strength for that particular batch. In order to study the long-term effect of reclaimed wastewater on concrete strength, three representative cube specimens prepared from each of the above mixes were cured over a longer period of time and tested at 90 d, 180 d, and a year. Other relevant tests on the physical characteristics of the concrete such as water absorption and density, will be carried out as per ASTM C642 (1990) i.e., Standard test method for specific gravity, absorption, and voids in hardened concrete, whereas rapid chloride permeability testing were carried out as per ASTM C1202-09 Standard test method for electrical indication of concretes ability to resist chloride ion penetration. (Table 1)

Type of Test Compressive strength (ASTM C39). Water absorption (ASTM C642) Electrical Indication for concretes ability to resist chloride ion penetration.

Number of Specimens Per Mix 3 Cubes. 2 Cylinders 2 Cylinders

Table 1. Laboratory Evaluation Tests and Number of Samples Collected

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Tests and Evaluations Compressive Strength Test: The quality of concrete is often judged by its strength. In this study, 3 cubes from each mix were tested at 7days , 14 days, 28days, 90days, 270 days, and 365 days, according to the standard specification ASTM C-39. Three concrete cubes were immersed in water tank for curing. Usually several factors affect the strength of concrete, such as, type of constituent materials, the method of mix preparation and curing. These factors have significant effect on the results obtained from this test, hence, adequate supervision should be applied during mixing and placing of concrete in order to achieve the designed strength. The cement type used in the concrete mix can affect the concrete according to its chemical composition. Another factor that affects concrete strength is water. Concrete with minimum amount of water required for complete hydration of its cement, would develop the maximum strength, thus, water addition to the mix should be supervised on site so that the designed water-cement ratio is obtained, taking into consideration that some water is absorbed by the aggregate, some is lost by evaporation, specially if the concrete is exposed to sun or wind, and some is removed by the initial chemical reactions. The shape of aggregate, its surface texture and cleanliness can also affect concrete strength, the choice of aggregate with suitable grading would help to avoid the drop of the concrete strength. Method of concrete preparation should be supervised, to make sure that a homogeneous mix is achieved, otherwise the result would be a poor quality concrete with low strength. Finally, curing period of concrete is a prerequisite for the hydration of cement content, the amount and rate of hydration are dependant on curing rate, the longer the curing period, the greater the final concrete strength. The curing rate and time should be supervised and checked on site due to its major influence on concrete strength.

Water Absorption and Density Test: Two concrete cylinders were tested to determine their specific gravity, percent of absorption, and percent of voids according to the standard specification ASTM C642 (1990). This test is of importance since it determines percentage of water absorbed which reflects the amount of voids in concrete, and this would give an idea of concrete capability to retain water and its potential to corrode. Electrical Indication of Concretes Ability to Resist Chloride Ion Penetration: Two concrete cylinders were tested from each mix for their ability to resist chloride ion penetration according to the standard specification ASTM C- 1202. In this test method, the amount of electrical current passing through 55 mm thick slice of 100 mm diameter cylinder was monitored during a 6 hours period. The total charge passed was measured, as an indication of specimens resistance to chloride ion penetration.

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It should be noted that test results are affected significantly by the specimens age, concrete type, and the curing procedure, thus, curing of concrete on site should be performed properly since cured concrete become progressively less permeable with time.

Test Results and Discussion Samples of tertiary wastewater were brought from the Jahra wastewater plant for all of the test mixes. The trial mix was modified for the control mix to satisfy the target of 25 MPa and the trial mix was to be workable and durable. A control mix was tested many times to set the properties of the control mix so that it would be a reference for all mixes. Six mixes were prepared with different percentages of tertiary wastewater starting at zero percent and increasing to 100%. With zero percentage of tertiary wastewater, 100% of freshwater was used. Compressive Strength Test Three cubes were tested from each mix 7d, 14d, 28d, 90d, 270 and 365d after casting. All of them were water cured. The compressive strength results are shown in Fig. 1.
500

450

Compressive Strength (kg/cm2)

400

350

0% 25% 40% 50% 75% 100%

300

250

200

150 7 14 28 90 Days 180 270 365

Fig. 1. Compressive Strength of All mixes.

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Concrete mixes with the same mix proportions and curing age should have the same value for compressive strength. However, in this study, although most of the concrete mixes have the same proportions of concrete ingredients, there was a little variation in the compressive strengths of the concretes made with different water contents. This is likely to be due to the difference in the proportions of the waters constituents in the combination of tertiary-treated wastewater and potable water. In examining the values obtained from compressive strength tests on concrete cubes, a little variation in the tests results was observed, which indicates a variation in the quality of concrete prepared using tertiary-treated wastewater, although the design strength of all of the mixes was the same. The lowest compressive strength recorded was 32.1 MPa after 28 d of water curing, which was more than 128% higher than its estimated design strength. Concrete prepared with 100% tertiary-treated wastewater had the lowest concrete strength. The results showed great consistency in the compressive strengths of tested specimens prepared using various water contents. On the other hand, all of concrete mixes attained more than 100% of their design strengths under the same curing conditions. Thus, it appears that the addition of tertiary-treated wastewater has no negative effect on the strength of concrete. The ACI 305R-2 states that if a concrete test specimen is cured in the first 24 h at a temperature of 39C, its 28-d compressive strength may be 10 to 15% lower than if cured at the required ASTM C31 curing temperature. The effect of curing time on compressive strength was also evaluated. Concrete cubes cured for 28 d had greater compressive strength than those cured for just 7 d. It is commonly known that curing concrete in the laboratory achieves better results than curing at a construction site. The variation in the results obtained from the compressive strength testing showed that using tertiary wastewater does not affect the strength of concrete and has no significant effect on its strength later (table 2). Table 2. Average compressive Strength Test Results for Water cured samples. Mix Average Compressive Strength (kg/cm2) type 7 days 14 days 28 days 90 days 180 Days 270 Days 365 days 0% 255.7 292.2 344.4 409.8 465.2 416.9 417.7 255.0 298.0 335.0 393.3 25% 405.9 414.4 443.0 231.3 280.2 325.0 381.0 40% 404.2 382.5 409.5 224.3 276.3 321.1 389.4 50% 390.4 418.2 413.7 208.5 269.3 323.0 375.9 75% 387.6 397 415.6 199.8 258.8 314.0 373.6 100% 392.4 393.4 406.3

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Water Absorption and Density Test

Two cylinders were tested from each concrete mix. The average percentages of water absorption and the voids volumes of the concrete samples from each mix were recorded, ( table 3). Concrete is a porous material. Absorption may be defined as the ability of a substance, in this case concrete, to draw water into its voids. The excess water used to make the mix sufficiently workable makes the hardened concrete porous and vulnerable to salt corrosion attack. Concrete cylinders prepared at KISRs concrete laboratory using 100% tertiary-treated wastewater had the highest percentage of voids (approximately 23%). Table 3 shows how many cubes were tested in each test. Tabel 2 shows that a few mixes absorbed more water than the other mixes tested in this study; thus, it is expected that mixes prepared using 100% tertiary-treated wastewater would be susceptible to early deterioration, (table 3).

Table 3. Average percentage of Water Absorption and Void Volume of Concrete Samples. Volume of Voids (%) Mix types 28 Days 90 Days 180 Days 270 Days 365 days 0% 10.50 11.45 13.30 13.90 12.00 25% 13.05 18.60 18.95 14.30 12.05 40% 13.90 13.55 16.90 14.20 13.35 50% 15.90 13.75 17.50 14.50 14.00 75% 16.05 14.55 17.45 16.80 13.30 100% 14.95 13.90 17.45 14.90 13.75 The test results show that the control mix is expected to be more durable than the other mixes included in this study, since it has the lowest percentage of voids i.e., 10%. Chloride Ion Resistance Test Two cylinders were tested from each mix for resistance to chloride ion penetration. According to the limits given in Table 4, for concrete, a charge-passed value of less than 100 C is considered to be negligible, while a charge-passed value of more than 4000 C is considered to be high, (table 4).

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Table 4. Chloride Ion Penetrability Based on the Charge Passed Charge Passed (C) > 4000 2000-4000 1000-2000 100-1000 <100 Chloride Ion penetrability High Moderate Low Very Low Negligible

It is unexpected for concrete prepared in the laboratory under good conditions, to allow large numbers of chloride ions to penetrate. However, some of the concrete specimens reached high chloride penetrability in less than six hours. A contributing factor was the high rise in the solutions temperature. According to the ASTM C1202-09 , the temperature should not be allowed to exceed 190oF (90C) during the test to avoid damage to the cells and boiling of the solutions. High temperature is allowably only for highly penetrable concretes. So, if the test were terminated because of high temperature, the concrete should have a very high chloride ion penetrability. The results of the ASTM C1202-09 test indicates that 100% of the specimens of the different mixes showed high permeability, (tabel 5). Therefore, all of the concrete mixes have high chloride ion penetrability. This indicates that most of the concrete is permeable, which could promote early deterioration. Hence, the service life the concrete is reduced. The high permeability of concrete is due to excess water, bad compaction and poor concrete mixing. According to the ASTM C1202 test results, the mix prepared using 100% tertiary-treated wastewater allowed highest amount of chloride ions to pass through the concrete over six hours. Table 5. Electrical Indication of Concretes Ability to Resist Chloride Ion Penetration Test Results. Mix type 0% 25% 40% 50% 75% 100%
Sample 1 2 1 2 1 2 1 2 1 2 1 2 charge Passed (Qs) 6957 6559 6353 5551 6033 6396 6070 6305 6117 5813 6033 6192 Chloride Ion Penetrability high high high high high high high high high high high high

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CONCLUSIONS

The results obtained from the laboratory study on the various concrete mixes showed that this tertiary wastewater did not have an adverse effect on compressive strength. Compared with concrete cast with 100% potable mixing water, an increase in compressive strength was observed in concrete cast with increasing percentage 10% of tertiary wastewater in the 28-days compressive strength. However, compressive strengths for ages three months and beyond were similar to the strengths of concrete made with 100% potable mixing water. From the results obtained in this study, concrete with improved initial compressive strength could be made with tertiary wastewater used partially or totally for the mixing water.

References Tay, J. H and W. K. Yip. 1987. Use of reclaimed Wastewater for Cement mixing. Journal of Environmental Engineering, vol. 113(5):1150-1160. Chini, R., Abdol; Muszynsk; C. Larry. 1999. Recycling wash water in ready mixed concrete operation. University of Florida, 5th Editor, code 69BP2 PP. 381 389, Gainesville, Fl, United States.

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