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Valorizing Palm Kernel Shell and Oyster Shell Wastes as Asphalt Mineral Fillers: A Waste-Management and Resource-Efficiency Assessment of Moisture-Resistant Pavements in the Niger Delta

Captain Gospel Otto

Abstract

Palm-oil processing and artisanal shellfish harvesting generate large, geographically concentrated residue streams in the Niger Delta that are presently managed by open dumping, uncontrolled burning and shoreline accumulation. In the same region, flexible pavements fail prematurely under prolonged inundation, consuming primary aggregate and quarried mineral filler in repeated reconstruction cycles. This paper evaluates whether these two problems can be made to solve one another, by assessing palm kernel shell ash and oyster shell ash as blended mineral fillers in hot-mix asphalt concrete from a waste-management and resource-efficiency perspective rather than a purely mechanical one. Laboratory results from a 6 × 6 factorial in PKSA and OSA, together with a 14-day full-submergence series, were used to define the specification-compliant envelope within which waste can be absorbed, and that envelope was then converted into a material-flow assessment. Eleven of thirty-six blends satisfied all Asphalt Institute volumetric and stability criteria simultaneously, and the maximum compliant waste-ash uptake was 12 % by mass of the mixture. At that loading a single lane-kilometre of 50 mm wearing course absorbs approximately 51 tonnes of waste ash and displaces an equivalent tonnage of quarried mineral filler; a 10 km dual two-lane carriageway absorbs approximately 2 040 tonnes. Because ash yields differ greatly between the two feedstocks, the corresponding raw-waste diversion is dominated by palm kernel shell and is strongly sensitive to calcination yield, for which a parametric treatment is given. Durability gains translated into an equivalent-damage service-life extension factor of 1.24 to 2.03 relative to the unmodified control, implying a proportionate reduction in the frequency of resurfacing and in the primary materials consumed over a pavement life cycle. The assessment also identifies the conditions under which the environmental case fails: uncontrolled open burning of shells, unverified leaching behaviour, and transport distances that erode the avoided-burden credit. A staged implementation and quality-control framework is proposed.

Keywords

Waste valorisation; Circular economy; Palm kernel shell ash; Oyster shell ash; Asphalt pavement; Material flow analysis; Niger Delta

References

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