SBIR Phase I: Sustainable Engineering of Lightweight Aggregate for Concrete Use from Waste Coal Combustion Ash

SBIR 第一阶段：利用废煤燃烧灰制备混凝土用轻骨料的可持续工程

• 批准号: 2126564
• 负责人: Mohammad Balapour
• 金额: $ 25.58万
• 依托单位: SUSMAX LLC
• 依托单位国家: 美国
• 项目类别: Standard Grant
• 财政年份: 2021
• 资助国家: 美国
• 起止时间: 2021-08-15 至 2023-03-31
• 项目状态: 已结题
• 来源: https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=2126564&HistoricalAwards=false
• 关键词: SBIR; Phase; Sustainable; Engineering; Lightweight

The broader impact of this SBIR Phase I project is two-folds: (1) increasing the accessibility of construction lightweight aggregate (LWA) for the concrete industry and (2) conversion of waste coal combustion ash (W-CCA) to value-added products (i.e., construction LWA). Yearly, about 100 million tons of coal combustion ash is produced in the US, of which only about 60% is recycled and the rest is moved to the landfills. This imposes risks to human health and the environment. Meanwhile, accessibility of construction LWA that is traditionally produced from clay, slate, and shale is challenging for the concrete industry in some states due to the absence of local construction LWA manufacturers. Therefore, LWA must be imported from elsewhere in the country, increasing (i) the final cost for the material and (ii) greenhouse gas emission due to transportation. With an abundance of W-CCA landfills scattered throughout the US, LWA can be produced from this material near the landfill sites to increase the local accessibility of construction LWA for the concrete industry. By implementing this technology, the environmental impact of W-CCA will be reduced, natural resource consumption will be prevented, CO2 emission associated with material transportation will be reduced, and users can save money by having access to local construction LWA.This Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) Phase I project addresses hurdles associated with manufacturing a novel porous lightweight aggregate (LWA) produced from waste coal combustion ash (W-CCA). The melting properties of W-CCA enable the production of construction LWA with superior engineering properties, including increased water absorption/desorption capacity and concrete workability relative to traditional LWA. The deliverables of this project include: (i) development of a LWA with desired sintering properties during pilot-scale production to assure technical feasibility of scaling-up the proposed technology, (ii) optimization of pilot-scale rotary kiln parameters translatable to large-scale production, (iii) demonstration of the superior engineering properties of LWA for concrete applications produced at lab pilot-scale, and (iv) demonstration of the non-leachability of W-CCA based LWA in encapsulated concrete applications.This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.

SBIR第一期项目的广泛影响有两个方面：(1)增加混凝土行业建筑轻集料(LWA)的可获得性；(2)将废煤燃烧灰(W-CCA)转化为增值产品(即建筑LWA)。美国每年产生约1亿吨燃煤灰烬，其中只有约60%被回收利用，其余被运往垃圾填埋场。这给人类健康和环境带来了风险。与此同时，由于缺乏当地的建筑LWA制造商，传统上由粘土、板岩和页岩生产的建筑LWA的可及性在一些州对混凝土行业构成了挑战。因此，LWA必须从该国其他地方进口，这增加了(I)材料的最终成本和(Ii)运输造成的温室气体排放。随着美国各地分布着大量的W-CCA垃圾填埋场，可以在垃圾填埋场附近用这种材料生产LWA，以增加混凝土行业建筑LWA的当地可达性。通过实施这项技术，将减少W-CCA对环境的影响，防止自然资源消耗，减少与材料运输相关的二氧化碳排放，并且用户可以通过获得当地建设的LWA来节省资金。这个小型企业创新研究(SBIR)第一阶段项目解决了利用废煤燃烧灰(W-CCA)制造新型多孔轻集料(LWA)的障碍。与传统的LWA相比，W-CCA的熔融性能使其能够生产具有优越工程性能的建筑LWA，包括更高的吸水/解吸能力和混凝土工作性。该项目的成果包括：(I)在中试生产期间开发具有所需烧结性能的LWA，以确保拟议技术扩大的技术可行性；(Ii)优化可转化为大规模生产的中试回转窑参数；(Iii)展示LWA在实验室中试生产的混凝土应用中的卓越工程特性；以及(Iv)展示基于W-CCA的LWA在封装混凝土应用中的不可渗滤性。该奖项反映了NSF的法定使命，并通过使用基金会的智力优势和更广泛的影响审查标准进行评估，认为值得支持。