Valorization of phosphogypsum in Ukraine by creating composite materials for structural layers of road pavement

Abstract

Ukraine's transition to an energy-efficient economy as part of its overall transformation to EU standards is a difficult but crucial challenge. The country's post-war recovery will involve modernizing the entire infrastructure in line with EU sustainable development standards. In particular, the road sector, being the most resource-intensive in construction, must be in line with the goals of the European Green Deal, namely: reducing greenhouse gas emissions resulting from the extraction and processing of natural resources, implementing the principles of the circular economy, achieving economic growth by maximizing the substitution of natural materials for man-made waste, minimizing negative environmental impact and using advanced green technologies (Natsionalna ekonomichna stratehiia, 2021). Promoting the principles of the circular economy and implementing the best European practices in the reuse of industrial waste is not only a requirement for Ukraine's successful accession to the EU, but also a prerequisite for the effective implementation of infrastructure projects, especially during the post-war reconstruction of the country. However, such ambitious goals can be a huge challenge for our country, particularly in environmental recycling projects in construction, where the most important issue is to eliminate the simplest and most attractive solution of using natural materials rather than replacing them with industrial waste. The article contains research materials on solving the problem of utilization of phosphogypsum waste by using it in the structural layers of road pavements. For this purpose, composite mixtures based on raw dump phosphogypsum (SE "Sіrka", Novyi Rozdil) were prepared. Laboratory tests have established that composite materials based on phosphogypsum meet the requirements of the State Standard of Ukraine for structural layers of road pavement.