Compressive strength and heavy metal leaching behaviour of mortars containing spent catalyst

This investigation was set and aimed to study the possibility of using spent catalyst as a concrete constituent which the spent catalyst was used as sand. Besides the spent catalyst was used as sand, it was also ground to very small particle size as small as that of cement and used as 20% replacement of cement by weight. Compressive strengths and leaching characteristics of lead, chromium, cadmium, and nickel in mortars containing spent catalyst and ground spent catalyst were tested.

The results presented revealed that the compressive strength of mortar containing spent catalyst increased with ages. The results also indicated that the compressive strength of mortar containing spent catalyst at the proportion of 1.25 times of cement by weight was strong enough to make a concrete brick. In case of the ground spent catalyst being used to replace cement, it made the compressive strength lower than that of the standard mortar approximately 20%. The leachate results of lead and chromium from spent catalyst were lower than the allowance, but cadmium and nickel exceeded the limits. After the spent catalyst was fixed with cement, the leaching of the heavy metals did not exceed the industrial effluent standard. Therefore, the heavy metals mentioned earlier were not a problem in using spent catalyst as a concrete constituent.