Effect of treated wastewater on properties of high strength concrete mixture

Abstract

Concrete industry in Egypt is consuming enormous amounts of fresh water (FW) for cement hydration and washing aggregate. Increasing of population led to increasing of water consumption, so providing the alternative is an important to save fresh water. In this research, four types of treated wastewater were used for concrete industry. The wastewater samples were collected from Zenien wastewater treatment plant in Giza, Egypt. Primary, biological, tertiary treated wastewater (TTWW) and treated grey water with sediment process only were used, and compare the results with those of concrete mixture using fresh water as a control sample. This paper shows the effect of using treated wastewater to mix the high strength concrete mixture on its properties and compare the results with concrete mixture using FW. In the experimental tests, primary, secondary, tertiary treated wastewater, treated grey water and FW were used as mixing water. The following properties of concrete were tested: compressive, tensile, flexure strength at ages of 3, 7, and 28 days, initial setting time, final setting time and pH value. The use of primary, secondary, TTWW and treated grey water as mixing water increases the final setting time of up to 14%, 6%, 3.5%, and 9.5% respectively compared with FW. The results confirm the possibility of using tertiary treated wastewater in high strength concrete mixture.