Utilisation of dairy waste as a release agent and plastisizer for civil construction

Abstract

Sustainable development favours integration between different sectors to facilitate effective utilisation of natural resources. In this regard, the objective of this work was to investigate the use, in the building industry, of the following two components derived from cow milk that is unfit for human consumption: a biodegradable release agent composed of milk fat and used soybean oil; and cementitious mortar composed of a biodegradable admixture of protein complexes (whey and κ-casein). Scanning electron microscopy and Raman spectroscopy analyses were performed to examine the morphology and chemical structure/curing process of the materials, respectively. Finally, the results were used to demonstrate that the products obtained from milk waste are viable for use in cementitious compounds. It was observed that the bio-release agent aided the demoulding process of the specimens in both moulds and did not decrease the compressive strength of the specimens. As regards the biopolymer, an increase in the compressive strength of the samples was observed at all ages, thus indicating a positive effect compared with that of commercial plasticisers in the 90-day samples.

Keywords

• dairy waste
• portland cement. biodegradable materials
• plasticiser
• release agent