Utilization of jarosite in precast concrete paver blocks

Abstract Sustainability has become the major concern for the construction industry in the recent era. Concrete stands as a versatile construction material, but cement being its main constituent poses a threat to the environment consuming a huge amount of energy and emanating CO2 and other greenhouse gases in its production process. On the other hand, the extraction of natural resources for construction works has been disrupting the environmental and ecological balance due to a huge accumulation of waste or by-products. So the major concern of the hour is the formulation of a mitigation strategy to fight this uncontrolled quantum of construction and its resulting consequences. The main objective of this present study is the utilization of jarosite, a hazardous solid waste, as a replacement of cement in concrete paver blocks. Six concrete mixes were prepared to keep the water-to-cementitious material ratio fixed at 0.43. The replacement of cement with jarosite was carried out at five replacement levels (0 – 25%) in an increment of 5%. Mechanical properties (compressive and flexural strength) and durability properties (water absorption and abrasion resistance) of the jarosite incorporated paver blocks were determined and compared to the control specimens. Experimental results indicate that mechanical and durability properties improve with the incorporation of jarosite, which could be attributed to a much developed packing of the jarosite concrete mix.