Research by National Taiwan University’s Graduate Institute of Environmental Engineering and the Taipei Water Department to develop the world’s first method of using sludge from water purification plants in concrete mix has won international recognition.
The newly developed method received a top-five poster presentation award from the International Water Association, according to Lee Yu-chi, a TWD engineer and one of the research authors.
The method mixes sludge with a solidification agent, cement and other ingredients to produce a material that can replace 30 percent of the fine-grain sandstone in concrete, Lee said on December 7.
The TWD supplies water to Taipei City and parts of Taipei County, and the water purification process produces some 70,000 metric tons of sludge per year.
“Most of the sludge is buried or sent to concrete plants,” Lee said. “However, it has become increasingly difficult to find landfill sites and rising transportation costs have compounded the problem.”
As a result, he and his fellow researchers decided to develop a method to recycle the sludge.
Lo Shang-lien, an NTU professor and one of the research authors, said the method has already undergone rigorous testing at the institute. He added, however, that the Environmental Protection Administration must still formulate reuse standards before the mix can be used as building material.
