Influence of the Heating Temperature and Fineness on the Hydration and Mechanical Property of Recycled Gypsum Plaster

Influence of the heating temperature and fineness on the hydration and mechanical property of recycled gypsum plaster was investigated to find the suitable heating temperature and fineness. According to the results, the setting time of recycled gypsum plaster increased with the increase of heating temperature, and the mechanical strength increased first and then decreased at a temperature of 165°C. Therefore, the suitable heating temperature was 165°C, and at this time, the initial setting time and final setting time were 8 min and 12.5 min, respectively, which met the requirements of the Chinese standard of GB/T 9776-2008. The strength of recycled gypsum plaster increased with the increase of specific surface area, and the low water to plaster ratio and high strength were achieved when the specific surface area was 1526 m2/kg. Therefore, it can be concluded that the suitable heating temperature was 165°C and the suitable specific surface area was 1526 m2/kg considering the properties and economics of recycled gypsum plaster.

Recyclability Process of Gypsum Reinforced with Hemp Fabrics: Impact and Flexural Behaviour

Gypsum is an ancient material, still widely used and suitable for many applications in the constructions due to its low cost, availability, lightweight, good thermal and sound isolating behaviour, fire resistance and low energy consumption. One of the most established application is its use as building walls and as pointed out in authors previous research works, it can be very useful and interesting to reinforce the gypsum with vegetable fibres like hemp. This aspect is in line with the current world situation where every industrial company needs to decrease the materials waste, increase recyclability and use more eco-friendly materials. Therefore, this work aims at designing, manufacturing, and testing of both commercial and recycled gypsum specimens reinforced with hemp fabrics, in order to improve impact and flexural resistance of traditional gypsum boards. The recycling process was carefully studied to detect the best grinding time, temperature and time of the heat treatment required to allow the reutilization of gypsum powders. Three point bending and impact tests at different energy levels were carried out in order to understand how the presence of the hemp fabrics within the gypsum matrix and how the recycling process affect the mechanical response of reinforced gypsum.

Lightweight recycled gypsum with residues of expanded polystyrene and cellulose fiber to improve thermal properties of gypsum

In this study, different proportions of gypsum composite reinforced with recycled cellulose fibers and expanded polystyrene were produced to study the properties of thermal conductivity, density, and flexural strength to be used as sealing plates to improve the thermal comfort of buildings. Different gypsum matrix composites were produced with varied proportions of cellulose fiber and expanded polystyrene, to analyze the influence of residues on the properties of the material. The thermal conductivity obtained for composites with greater amounts of expanded polystyrene was 0.18 W/mK, a 48% reduction in relation to plasterboard, improving thermal performance. The flexural strength was also analyzed, which met the minimum strength requirement for use as gypsum composites, however, it is not enough to be used in places that require mechanical resistance, thus it is indicated for sealing plates applications, improving the thermal performance of places where only plasterboard is used.

Environmental Evaluation of Gypsum Plasterboard Recycling

Gypsum is widely used in the construction sector, and its worldwide consumption has been increasing for several decades. Depending on the lifetime of the used gypsum products, an increase of gypsum in construction and demolition waste follows. Especially against the background of a circular economy, the recycling of waste gypsum is of growing importance. However, the use of recycled gypsum only makes sense if it is environmentally friendly. Therefore, an evaluation of the environmental impacts of industrial-scale processing for the recycling of post-consumer gypsum waste was conducted. The evaluation was performed with an established life cycle assessment software. Original data provided by the industry and complementary data from a database for life cycle assessments were used for the calculations. Two scenarios for recycled gypsum with different transportation distances were calculated. These results were compared with the results of the environmental evaluation of gypsum derived from coal-fired power plants (FGD gypsum) and natural gypsum. The results showed that the utilization of recycled gypsum can be environmentally advantageous compared to the use of natural gypsum or FGD gypsum, especially in the impact categories of land transformation and resource consumption (abiotic depletion potential). For most environmental impact categories, the specific transportation distances have a strong influence.

Ideal quality control for waste gypsum board recycling and social implementation

Gypsum board is used all around the world as a key material for the construction industry. One of the challenges with this product is the resulting waste, the majority of which is simply thrown away. Dr Kazuto Endo, of the National Institute for Environmental Studies in Japan, has been investigating the issue of gypsum board waste recycling for the past 15 years and has been instrumental in the creation of quality guidelines for recycled gypsum powder and the implementation of these standards across the industry, resulting in higher levels of recycling and safer, more sustainable use of resources. Endo's work, both on recycling gypsum board waste and the development and implementation of quality control guidelines for this process, have the potential to play a significant role in increasing both safety and sustainability of the use of this resource.