Using Science to Convert Sewage Sludge into Concrete

There is nothing quite as disgusting as the sludge that flows through the many sewage drains of our mighty cities. The complex drainage system that literally takes the crap out of your house has a far from pleasing end result. There have been no productive uses of this sewage sludge till now.

At the Universiti Putra Malaysia, researchers are coming up with a way to use dried sewage sludge as an alternative cement material for concrete. As the volume of sludge increases and the environmental laws get more strict about legal ways to dispose of it, this science experiment could actually have far reaching consequences.

What they did is to first produce domestic waste sludge powder or DWSP  by taking regular sludge and then dried it. This was later powdered and mixed with cement at different ratios for different consistencies. 3, 5, 7, 10 and 15% mixtures were made and then compared to regular cement in terms of their compressive strength, water absorption, water permeability and rapid chloride ion penetration.

While more detailed studies and analysis will be required, the researchers have said that there is great potential in the study conducted. DWSP can be used as a partial cement replacement in the future as long as some more science projects figure out just how to use it.