NIT Rourkela Develops High-Strength Road Material by Recycling Coal-Mining and Industrial Waste

Rourkela, Aug 18: National Institute of Technology Rourkela (NIT Rourkela) researchers have secured a patent for a high-strength composite material made from coal mining and industrial waste. The innovative material has the potential to be used in the construction of roads designed to withstand heavy vehicle traffic.

The developed technology addresses two key challenges, including:

·       Management of large quantities of mining and industrial waste

·       Need for durable roads to support heavy traffic

The research team, including Prof. K. Umamaheshwar Rao, Professor and Director, Dr. Manoj Kumar Mishra, Professor, along with research scholar Dr. Subhasrita Chodhury, PhD Graduate, Department of Mining Engineering, NIT Rourkela, has secured a patent for the developed technology. (Patent No. 597749, Application No. 202331070306).

According to the report from Ministry of Coal, Govt. of India, to meet the country’s energy and industrial requirements, India mines about 1.00 billion tons of raw coal annually, almost 94% from surface mine operations that generates large amount of multiple types of waste. This includes coal parting material, comprising rock and other non-coal materials. Disposing this waste through conventional methods put huge pressure on the environment.

To address this challenge, the NIT Rourkela research team focused on silica and alumina, clay minerals available in the coal mine partings, that can be used as raw minerals for construction applications. These clay minerals hold properties such as compressive strength and stiffness, which can be leveraged when combined with industrial additives.

Recognising this potential, the research team developed a novel composite by combining coal mine parting, fly ash and a binder and evaluated the mixture formulation for optimum performance.

Explaining the research, Prof. K. Umamaheshwar Rao, said, “The developed technology is particularly relevant to coal-mining regions, where roads routinely carry heavy vehicles transporting mined materials. Such roads are exposed to significant loads and repeated traffic, resulting in frequent deterioration.”

Describing the developed technology, Prof. Manoj Kumar Mishra said, “The developed composite is a classic example of the circular economy principle. We have used two industrial wastes of huge volume into a resource with significant engineering potential and economic value. It not only address waste management issues, but also offers indigenous and sustainable infrastructure improvement.”

As the next step, the research team is planning to conduct pilot-scale field trials to measure the developed material’s long-term durability and strength in real-world conditions.