Experimental Study on Concrete Containing Electronic Waste (E-Concrete)

Concrete is the most widely used building material in construction industry. The main reason behind its popularity is its high strength and durability. Rapid growth of world population and wide spread urbanization has remarkably increased the development of the construction industry which caused a huge demand for sand and gravels. Environmental problems occur when the rate of extraction of sand, gravels, and other materials exceeds the rate of generation of natural resources. E-waste is nothing but discarded electronics and electrical equipment.80 to 85% of various electronic products discarded in landfills or incinerators which can involve or release certain toxics gases into air, may affect human health and environment. The extreme amount of lead in electronics alone causes damage in the central and peripheral nervous system, the blood and kidneys of human being. Only 12.5% of e-waste is currently recycled also Storage of waste is a big problem in India. In this paper an attempt is made experimentally to investigate the strength behavior of concrete with the use of electronic waste. The work was conducted on M30 grade mix. The replacement of coarse aggregate with E-waste in the range of 0%, 5%, 10%, and 15%. Various test such as compressive strength, tensile strength and flexural strength are investigated and these values are compared with conventional concrete. The test results showed that a significant improvement in compressive strength was achieved in the E-waste concrete compared to conventional concrete and can be used effectively in concrete.