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Neyveli Lignite Corporation (NLC), a public sector unit of the Coal Ministry, has constructed a two km. model road at NLC township using flyash, sand, gravel and lime. The road was opened to traffic in January 2004. The company will study the performance of this road in two consecutive rainy seasons and Anna University has been addressed to conduct test on the model road. The road was constructed under a project 'Development of Cost effective high performance highway using flyash composite'. The objective of the project is to prepare a suitable mix using flyash, soil and additives for the subway of the road and to prepare a suitable mix of flyash, cement and aggregate for the top wearing layer of the road. This information is given in the Annual Report 2004-05 of the Coal Ministry.
The report says, recently NLC and CFRI completed a project which proved that flyash application in the fields was beneficial to crops. Long-term studies are in progress to study the heavy metal uptake and leaching of flyash. It has taken up studies on sub-soil ash leaching in and around the ash pond wells. It has also started studies on the extraction of minerals from flyash and bottom ash by physical, chemical and biological methods. Another study for manufacture of hollow blocks using ceramic wastes and flyash as composites has been started and its performance and durability studies are quite encouraging.
To increase the utilisation of flyash in large scale, the civil branch of the company has proposed to develop interlocking masonry blocks using flyash as composite material. These blocks have advantages of faster rate of construction, cost savings as mortar joints are eliminated, simple block laying and dimensional variation due to reduced mortar thickness. The blocks can be retrieved and recycled when adopted for temporary constructions. In view of the above advantages, the blocks can be used extensively in mining areas and industrial plants.
DS/SCH
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