Prof. D. N. Singh

GANARAJ K.

Ph.D
Indian Institute of Technology Bombay, Powai, India nagaraj.k.b4u@gmail.com

APPLICATION OF BAUXITE RESIDUES FOR SUSTAINABLE INFRASTRUCTURE DEVELOPMENT

The industrial byproducts, IBPs, (viz. fly ash, bauxite residues, blast furnace slag, steel slag, ferrochrome slag, copper slag, cement kiln dust, etc.), pose severe challenges associated with their disposal, handling, storage, and reuse. This is mainly due to the presence of toxic and leachable chemical species in the form of heavy metals. The exponential growth rate of generation of IBPs all over the world and scarcity of land for disposal/storage, and minor utilization potential has become a bugbear for most of the industries. The utilization of IBPs, for creating huge infrastructure projects (viz. land reclamation, rehabilitation of low-lying areas, backfilling of mines and construction of embankments, etc.) is being hypothesized by earlier researchers to address the issues related with sustainability. With this in view, an extensive review has been done on the global research that has been conducted on utilization of various IBPs in construction and infrastructural development activities such as land reclamation, production of building materials, geopolymers, pavement layers, embankments, soil stabilization/amelioration, mine backfill, and various geoenvironmental clean-up functions (viz. the treatment of water and gases). Apparently, these bulk utilization schemes have not been implemented in the case of bauxite residues, BRs, which are generated at alumina refineries; either in the slurry form or cakes coming out of the filter press owing to extremely high alkalinity and fine-grained particles. Hence in the present study, an attempt has been made to consolidate the contemporary issues associated with the management and bulk utilization of various IBPs in general, and BRs in particular, with a primary emphasis on their generation and physicochemical and mineralogical properties. The study then projects few potential road maps for bulk utilization and valorization of BRs, alone or along with other IBPs, namely fly ash and ground granulated blast furnace slag in (i) soft soil stabilization, (ii) subgrade construction, and (iii) creation of manmade soils by neutralization. The study further demonstrates the utility of the IBPs for sustainable infrastructure development