| Summary: | Present-day methods of recovery of used wooden railway ties, including burial, chemical neutralization, gasification and subsequent burning, utilization in the capacity of composite materials, are expensive and unsafe for the environment. The authors propose a new method of their utilization. Ash generated in the course of their burning may replace a portion of cement in composite solutions and act as an additive to grouting mortars designated for the filling of the annulus space of manifold tunnels. The chemical composition of the ash was identified by the x-ray method applied to three samples taken during various periods of time from out of a dry-type dust collector.
The level of human health/environmental hazard of the ash is based on its chemical composition. Changes in the rheological properties of composite solutions that contained concrete fractions, various ratios of ash, and 5% of liquid glass were studied in the course of the research. The experiments have proven that in the event of replacement of 20% of cement by ash, the strength of the composite solution is approximately the same as the one of the benchmark sample; therefore, this ash content ratio is deemed acceptable. The finding demonstrate that the ash has no toxic effect, and the ecological safety of this solution is thus confirmed. The authors have proven that 20% of cement may be replaced by the ash generated in the course of burning of waste railway ties.
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