Alternative secondary raw materials for road construction based on pulp and paper industry reject: paperChain project

Abstract

Europe is the second world producer of pulp and paper, manufacturing 130 million tonnes in 2014 and representing 25% of world production. The EU pulp and paper manufacturing and converting industries generate an annual turnover of € 180 billion, representing 1,26% of the European GDP (Gross domestic product). In particular, the Pulp and Paper industry (PPI) has a turnover of € 75 billion, comprises 920 plants and provides 180,000 jobs in Europe directly, and 1.5 million in the value chain. This sector is resource intensive and produces 11 million tonnes of rejects yearly most of them because of the separation of non-cellulosic material, which enters the factories together with the paper for recycling. PAPERCHAIN project brings in an industrial symbiosis model centred in the use of different reject streams generated by the European Pulp and Paper Industry, as valuable feedstock for three resource hungry industrial sectors: construction sector, mining sector and the chemical industry. In the construction sector, previous results at laboratory and small-scale field trials showed that waste paper ash (WPA) can act as a binder for soil stabilization in subgrade and subbase layers (soil-cement) and pavement recycling. PAPERCHAIN has proved the technical and environmental performance of the new binder in different pilot cases, from the less complex and easier to reach the market (unpaved roads), to the most complex and regulated ones (conventional roads). The pilot case studied and presented in this article is a stabilized layer (S-EST3-type according to the Spanish road regulation). The previous results show the technical and environmental viability of the use of WPA, showing the success of the Paperchain project.