Investigation of the possibilities of phosphogypsum application for building partitioning Walls - elements of a prefabricated house

Abstract

Phosphogypsum is a waste product in the manufacture of phosphoric acid from phosphorite and sulphuric acid by so-called "wet process" and represents a refuse that is as such simply thrown away. Phosphogypsum which is produced by "dihydrating procedure" contains not only various impurties but also radionuclides, which limits its construction use. Performed testings point to the complexity of phosphogypsum structure and composition while the electron microscope's pictures showed its different crystal composition compared to the natural gypsum. The calcined and refined phosphogypsum can be used for partition walls manufacture. To avoid the danger of the possible presence of radionuclides it is better to use the mixture of natural gypsum and phosphogypsum for this purpose. Substantial saving of materials and economic effect can be achieved in this way. The analyse performed in this work have shown significant presence of radionuclides in phosphogypsum. Gammaspectrometric measurements of radioactivity have determined substantial radioactivity of phosphogypsum. Using the maximum tolerated level values that are legally accepted, as well as equations to calculate indexes of tolerated radionuclide presence, an index of 2.23 has been determined for interiors and 1.13 for exteriors, i.e. 0.64 in case of roads. On the basis of the maximum tolerated level of radioactive building materials contamination (< 1), forbiden is the use of phosphogypsum in interiors, allowed (≈ 1) in exteriors and roads. The tests of heavy metal components in phosphogypsum have proved their presence in the amounts potentially producing consequences if present in closed spaces. That is conditioned by the phosphogypsum quantity, as well as by the area of space partitioned.

Keywords

• phosphogypsum
• gypsum fiberboards
• partitioning wall
• radon
• radioactivity
• "building sickness"
• habitability