A

Synopsis Report on

AN EXPERIMENTAL INVESTIGATION ON

PROPERTIES OF PAPERCRETE

In partial fulfilment of requirements for the

Master of Technology in Structural Engineering

SUBMITTED BY:

NASIR MUSHTAQ
46177010

DEPARTMENT OF CIVIL ENGINEERING

KURUKSHETRA UNIVERSITY

KURUKSHETRA, HARYANA
ABSTRACT
Papercrete is a sustainable building material due to reduced amount of cement usage and
recycled paper being put to good use. Papercrete is a one type of fibrous cement, made by
shredding paper such as old newspapers, prints, cardboards etc. as pulp in water, Portland cement
and sandy soil. It has numerous advantages in construction industry, namely low carbon
footprint, recycled material usage, low embodied energy, high strength to weight ratio, high
thermal insulation, high sound absorption, aesthetic and cost effective. There are many varieties
of Papercrete possible when the constituents mixed in different proportions. It gains its inherent
strength due to presence of hydrogen bonds in microstructure of paper. This thick mix can then
be poured into moulds and cast like concrete, to make it into any desired shape and size.
Moreover, papercrete bricks can also be manufactured. Papercrete bricks are relatively light and
more flexible so, they are potentially ideal material for earthquake prone areas. Different
parameters such as strength, durability, density and water absorption are determined to check the
feasibility. This paper reviews about the environment impact caused by the paper pollution.
Further it discusses about the numerous advantages and disadvantages of papercrete in the
construction industries. Properties like absorption, crushing strength, hardness, presence of
soluble salts, etc. are studied. Certain measures to overcome the limitations in the properties are
also mentioned. Much research is being carried out globally on the material but it is yet to be
acknowledged by Indian standard practices and codes and recognized by major building material
organizations in India.

These days CO2 emission from construction sites because of cement use is a global issue. In
order to address environmental effects associated with cement manufacturing and constantly
depleting natural resources, there is a need to develop alternative binders to make concrete
industry sustainable. On the other hand, more waste paper ends up in landfills or dump sites than
those recycled due to which all countries are facing a serious challenge in disposing of waste. If
current trends continue, with waste production projected to grow by 5% each year, landfills
would be at full capacity by 2020. Based on the review of large quantity of related national and
international references, the state-of-art of the research and development on papercrete is
presented in this paper. Papercrete is a new composite material using waste paper as a partial
replacement of Portland cement. By using waste paper, papercrete is not only reducing the
amount of cement used but also making environment-friendly building materials. The mixture
proportion, the durability, the basic physical and chemical properties and the structural
performance of papercrete are mainly investigated. Papercrete is an alternative building material
which reduces dead load for the main structure. Papercrete is a recently developed construction
material which consists of re-pulped paper fiber with Portland cement or clay. It was discovered
by Eric Patterson and Mike McCain independently and they named their invention Padobe and
Fibrous Cement.

The basic constituents of papercrete are water and any kind of paper (newspaper, cardboard,
glossy magazine stock, advertising brochures, junk mail or any other type of paper). These fibers
from paper add strength to cement, just as glass fibers add strength to fiberglass. In the case of
papercrete, these fibers can actually make up the bulk of the mix, resulting in a product that is
both lightweight and strong. The process of making papercrete includes soaking waste paper in
water overnight so that the fibers are softened and mixing the soaked paper until a homogeneous
pulp is obtained. The Portland cement, sand and water are added to the pulp and blended. The
mixture is then poured into forms to create blocks and the forms are removed once it is dry. After
a few days, the blocks can be used in construction. There are no harmful byproducts or excessive
energy use in the production of papercrete. Paper fibers hold Portland cement. Papercrete can be
produced using solar energy. The only power needed is for mixing and pumping water. A house
made from papercrete is safer than one made from wood as it will not ignite or burn. It can be
easily shaped when cured and dried. The most important benefit of papercrete is the reduction of
cement in the mix. Carbon emissions during production, the total cost and weight are reduced,
resulting in a cheap and lightweight material. Paper fibers result in excellent heat and sound-
insulating properties.

Papercrete motivates recycling of waste paper, especially in communities with no recycling

services. It saves landfill space and keeps paper processing and printing chemicals out of the
water table. It saves trees and other construction resources, which would have been used in place
of papercrete. There are three derivatives of papercrete namely fibrous concrete, padobe and
fidobe.

i) Fibrous concrete – mixing of paper, Portland cement and water.

ii) Padobe – mixture of paper, water and earth with clay.

iii) Fidobe- It is like padobe, but it may contain other fibrous material

LITERATURE REVIEW

Manuel (2002). He studied that physical characteristics of papercrete are mainly depending upon
the relative amount of sand and Portland cement used.

Dunster (2007). He said addition of 20% calcined paper sludge with cement paste accelerate
setting time by 60 minutes, but results in reduction of workability.

H. Yun et al (2010). They have found that density of papercrete was decreased when the
replacement of waste paper increased. When paper replacement ratio was 5%, density was
measured 1.88g/cm³, and it was reduced to 15% and 22%, respectively by increasing paper ratio
10% and 15%. The shrinkage of papercrete was increased according to increase of paper-cement
replacement ratio.

Ms. S. Suganya (2012). She stated that papercrete bricks are relatively light weight, good sound
absorbent and more flexible but it has high percentage of water absorption than conventional
bricks. It can be easily cut into desirable shape. And also, it does not expand or contract due to
surround environment

EXPERIMENTAL WORK ON PAPERCRETE

Generation of Pulp for Papercrete: The papers could not be used directly. Before mixing with
other ingredients, papers will be converted into slurry form, known as pulp. First the pins,
threads and other materials will be removed. Then the papers will be torn into small pieces and
all the torn pieces of paper will be immersed in water. The papers will be kept in water for 3 to 5
days, and they soon degraded into a paste like form. After that period, the papers taken out from
water tank and shredded into little pieces. Using the small flavor machine, the shredded papers
will be converted into pulp. The paper pulp has residual water in itself, and it is not good enough
for mixing the ingredients. So, the required amount of water will be added at the time of mixing.

Casting of Specimen for Papercrete: After paper pulp will be generated, first dry ingredients
taken out on the weight basis and all the dry mixes will be mixed uniformly. Then, these dry
mixes will be sprinkled over the required amount of paper pulp and mixed uniformly manually.
After mixing, the mixes will be placed in the mould for 30 min. The blocks will be molded
manually by hand. Before mixing, the wooden mold will be kept ready for casting the specimen.
Machine oil will be applied to the inner surfaces of mould for easy removing of mould and
without causing any damage to the specimen. The size of the specimen is (150×150×150)mm.
The specimen will be kept on the vibrating table. Papercrete fibrous mix will be poured into the
mould by three layers and fully compacted mechanically. After Casting is completed, the
specimen is laid on the laying table. After 15 min, the mould is removed carefully from the
specimen. After 28 days of air drying, i.e., on hearing the metallic sound when striking out the
brick surface, the specimen is ready for testing i.e. compressive strength, tensile strength, flexural
strength and also is checked for workability.