Efficient Management of Egg Shell and Conch Shell Wastes by Utilization as Bio Fillers in Eco Friendly Gypsum Mortar

The efficient waste management and recovery of waste materials are the most important goals of sustainable environmental development. The egg shells and conch shells are solid wastes being deposited in enormous amount which creates large disposal problem. In order to examine the possibility of utilizing these wastes for use in building materials the egg shell and conch shell powders were used as partial replacement for the manufacture of eco-friendly bio mortars. The mechanical characterization of the bio mortar produced by substituting finely ground egg shell and conch shell powder at various percentages were quantitatively investigated. The present research work was executed in two groups – the first group of bio mortar consists of raw egg shell and conch shell powder and the second group consists of thermally treated egg shell and conch shell powder as a partial substitute for binder. The results showed that the untreated egg shell and conch shell powder did not cause much improvement in the strength parameters of bio mortar whereas the thermally treated egg shell and conch shell substituted mortar exhibited a significant improvement in the mortar strength. The scanning electron microscopy images also reveal the denser and compact structure of mortar which supports the filling effect caused by these wastes. This improvement in strength was due to the calcite present in the egg shell and conch shell powder. The calcite traces were further confirmed by the FTIR and XRD studies. Thus the usage of these waste materials as binder reduces the manufacture of cement which minimizes the environmental pollution by mitigating the CO2 emissions.