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More production equals more waste, more waste creates environmental concerns of toxic threat. An economical viable solution to this problem should include utilization of waste materials for new products which in turn minimize the heavy burden on the nation's landfills. Recycling of waste construction materials saves natural resources, saves energy, reduces solid waste, reduces air and water pollutants and reduces greenhouse gases. The construction industry can start being aware of and take advantage of the benefits of using waste and recycled materials. Studies have investigated the use of acceptable waste, recycled and reusable materials and methods. The use of swine manure, animal fat, silica fume, roofing shingles, empty palm fruit bunch, citrus peels, cement kiln dust, fly ash, foundry sand, slag, glass, plastic, carpet, tire scraps, asphalt pavement and concrete aggregate in construction is becoming increasingly popular due to the shortage and increasing cost of raw materials. In this study a questionnaire survey targeting experts from construction industry was conducted in order to investigate the current practices of the uses of waste and recycled materials in the construction industry. This study presents an initial understanding of the current strengths and weaknesses of the practice intended to support construction industry in developing effective policies regarding uses of waste and recycled materials as construction materials.

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Abstract:Environmental protection through implementation of green energies is progressively becoming a daily reality. Numerous sources of green energy were introduced in recent years. Although this process initially started with difficulties, it finally resulted in an acceleration and implementation of new green energy technologies. Nonetheless, new major obstacles are emerging. The most worldwide difficult obstacle encountered, especially for wind and photovoltaic electric power plants, is the not regular and predictable green energy production. This study proposes solutions designed to solve this unpleasant aspect of irregular production of green energy. The basic idea refers to the construction of specially designed nuclear power plants acting as energy buffers. Nuclear power plants, indeed, may behave as proper energy buffers able to work to a minimum capacity when the green energy (i.e., wind power or PV) is steadily produced (namely, when the energy generated by the turbines or PV panels is at full constant capacity) but that can also run at progressively increased capacities when the wind or solar energy production reduces or stops. The work get two major contributions: 1-propose to the achievement of an energy buffer using nuclear power plants (for the moment on nuclear fission); 2-shows some theoretical aspects important needed to carry out the reaction of the fusion.

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The life expectancy of Asphalt Binder (AB) has been negatively impacted by the harsh bombardment of UV rays. UV rays cause asphalt to oxidize faster, which results in deterioration of asphalt rheological characteristics that can lead to pavement distresses. This study investigates the impact of bio-char and nanoclay of asphalt rheological properties. Two nano scale materials were used for this study were nano-clay and bio-char. Nano-clay (Cloisite 30B) is a naturally occurring inorganic mineral. Bio-char is the waste product from bio-binder production. Bio-binder is produced from swine manure using a thermochemical conversion process. This process is then followed by a filtration procedure where the bio-char is produced. Chemical and physical properties of bio-char showed a significant presence of carbon which could in turn enhance asphalt flow properties and reduce the rate of asphalt oxidation. In this study several mixtures are designed and evaluated using Rotational Viscometer testing (RV) and X-Ray Diffraction (XRD). Nano-clay is blended at 2 and 4% by weight, with and without bio-binder (5% by weight of dry mass). Bio-char is grinded to nano scale and added to the virgin asphalt binder (PG 64-22) at 2, 5 and 10% by weight. The study results showed that introduction of nano-clay could be effective in reducing temperature susceptibility of asphalt binder.

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