The National Highway Authority of India- NHAI looks to take up field trials as far as use of phosphor-gypsum which happens to be a fertiliser production by-product is concerned. The authority is going to take up this trial along with the Ministry of Chemicals and Fertilizers as well as the Department of Fertilizers.
The idea is to achieve a circular economy when it comes to the use of gypsum. As per the Financial Express, India happens to have the world’s second-largest road network. It is well to be noted that one of the Indian fertilizer companies has already built a road leveraging neutralized phosphor-gypsum.
This road has been reviewed by the Central Road Research Institute. Following its report, the Indian Road Congress- IRC has gone on to accredit waste material from phosphor-gypsum for road construction for three years. The fertiliser company, which is not disclosed yet, as well as the CRRI are tasked with conducting field trials on a NHAI road project so as to analyse the performance of phosphor-gypsum and thereby build faith among numerous stakeholders that are involved in highway construction.
India’s national highway authority is also promoting waste plastic usage in road construction as well other new materials in order to cut down carbon, boost durability as well as make construction cost-effective. The use of waste plastic when it comes to road construction has already been trialled successfully, and as per the various studies, the use of plastic waste can make the roads more sustainable as well as durable.
When we talk of numbers, 1 km of the four-lane highway can dispose of around 7 tonnes of plastic waste. NHAI has gone on to make use of fly ash, which happens to be a coal combustion residue from thermal power plants, for highway construction. The authority has already built a 135 km long Eastern Peripheral Expressway which is 6-lane by using fly ash.