Assessment of Heavy-metal Leaching from Recycled Concrete Debris and Bottom Ash as Sustainable Alternatives for Railway Ballast in Tropical Environments 

Assessment of Heavy-metal Leaching from Recycled Concrete Debris and Bottom Ash as Sustainable Alternatives for Railway Ballast in Tropical Environments | Research Square window.SnipcartSettings = { analytics: { enabled: false } }; (function() { var accessVector = localStorage.getItem('access_vector') || ''; window.dataLayer = window.dataLayer || []; if (accessVector) { window.dataLayer.push({ user: { profile: { profileInfo: { snid: accessVector } } } }); } })(); (function(w,d,s,l,i){w[l]=w[l]||[];w[l].push({'gtm.start':new Date().getTime(),event:'gtm.js'});var f=d.getElementsByTagName(s)[0],j=d.createElement(s),dl=l!='dataLayer'?'&l='+l:'';j.async=true;j.src='https://www.googletagmanager.com/gtm.js?id='+i+dl;f.parentNode.insertBefore(j,f);})(window,document,'script','dataLayer','GTM-K279D39R'); Browse Preprints In Review Journals COVID-19 Preprints AJE Video Bytes Research Tools Research Promotion AJE Professional Editing AJE Rubriq About Preprint Platform In Review Editorial Policies Our Team Advisory Board Help Center Sign In Submit a Preprint Cite Share Download PDF Article Assessment of Heavy-metal Leaching from Recycled Concrete Debris and Bottom Ash as Sustainable Alternatives for Railway Ballast in Tropical Environments Youventharan Duraisamy, Rokiah Othman, Mohd Arif Sulaiman This is a preprint; it has not been peer reviewed by a journal. https://doi.org/ 10.21203/rs.3.rs-5531247/v1 This work is licensed under a CC BY 4.0 License Status: Posted Version 1 posted You are reading this latest preprint version Abstract Railway track ballast comprises natural rocks such as granite and basalt. Substituting various waste materials instead of natural aggregate will considerably reduce environmental damage, promote sustainable development, and reduce cost. However, harmful substances may be leached that might change the quality of rivers. This study is conducted to monitor the heavy metal leaching activity under the influence of tropical weather change. Various track design samples were mixed in 6 different compositions and placed in a leaching tank for 270 days under room and hot temperatures. Samples were continuously heated at 40°C for 10 minutes at random intervals during day time. Some 2 ml of leachates were tested using the ICP-OES method to monitor the changes in the sample. The leaching of heavy metals was analyzed and compared with the specification of the National Water Quality Standards (NWQS) set by the Department of Environment (DOE) Malaysia. The mixture of 50% conventional ballast, 40–45% inert concrete debris, and 5–10% bottom ash is highly recommended. It was concluded that the leaching parameters were within the threshold permitted. Hence, with minimal pre-treatment, bottom ash, and concrete waste can be used as an alternative material in railway tracks. Earth and environmental sciences/Environmental sciences Physical sciences/Engineering Physical sciences/Materials science Sustainable materials Railway Ballast Recycled Concrete Debris Bottom Ash Heavy-Metal Leaching Tropical climate. Full Text Additional Declarations No competing interests reported. Cite Share Download PDF Status: Posted Version 1 posted You are reading this latest preprint version Research Square lets you share your work early, gain feedback from the community, and start making changes to your manuscript prior to peer review in a journal. As a division of Research Square Company, we’re committed to making research communication faster, fairer, and more useful. We do this by developing innovative software and high quality services for the global research community. Our growing team is made up of researchers and industry professionals working together to solve the most critical problems facing scientific publishing. Also discoverable on Platform About Our Team In Review Editorial Policies Advisory Board Help Center Resources Author Services Accessibility API Access RSS feed Manage Cookie Preferences © Research Square 2026 | ISSN 2693-5015 (online) Privacy Policy Terms of Service Do Not Sell My Personal Information {"props":{"pageProps":{"initialData":{"identity":"rs-5531247","acceptedTermsAndConditions":true,"allowDirectSubmit":true,"archivedVersions":[],"articleType":"Article","associatedPublications":[],"authors":[{"id":441548442,"identity":"662f1c6a-d1a2-4948-af42-e1d0a1bb389a","order_by":0,"name":"Youventharan Duraisamy","email":"data:image/png;base64,iVBORw0KGgoAAAANSUhEUgAAAZAAAAAyAQMAAABI0h/eAAAABlBMVEX///8AAABVwtN+AAAACXBIWXMAAA7EAAAOxAGVKw4bAAABAElEQVRIiWNgGAWjYBCDBDD5AcblIazDAKyFcQbJWpjhKvFpMTjeYybxccefPP7Zh589tm3blifffoDxwds2hmiDAzi0nDljJjnzjEGxxLk0c+PcttvFBmcSmA3ntjHkbsCl5UaOsTFvm0FiwxkGM2mglsQNDAls0ryEtPwFapl/hv2btCVQy/z+B+y/CWgxfMwI1LLhDI+ZNCNQS8ONBDZmfFokzxwrfNjbZpy48QxPmWTPOaBfbjxslpxzTiJ3Jg4tfMebNxz42SaXOO8M+zaJH2W38+T7kw9+eFNmk9uHQ4sCungCMEYbgLQEphQUyDdgasElNQpGwSgYBSMVAADb2mYMg4WFqAAAAABJRU5ErkJggg==","orcid":"","institution":"Universiti Malaysia Pahang Al-Sultan Abdullah","correspondingAuthor":true,"prefix":"","firstName":"Youventharan","middleName":"","lastName":"Duraisamy","suffix":""},{"id":441548443,"identity":"a49f7206-850d-4368-9254-c2130b86761e","order_by":1,"name":"Rokiah Othman","email":"","orcid":"","institution":"Universiti Malaysia Pahang Al-Sultan Abdullah","correspondingAuthor":false,"prefix":"","firstName":"Rokiah","middleName":"","lastName":"Othman","suffix":""},{"id":441548444,"identity":"ec2a7b30-c18a-4cd7-aca5-a7a85f0f8593","order_by":2,"name":"Mohd Arif Sulaiman","email":"","orcid":"","institution":"Universiti Malaysia Pahang Al-Sultan Abdullah","correspondingAuthor":false,"prefix":"","firstName":"Mohd","middleName":"Arif","lastName":"Sulaiman","suffix":""}],"badges":[],"createdAt":"2024-11-27 01:53:18","currentVersionCode":1,"declarations":"","doi":"10.21203/rs.3.rs-5531247/v1","doiUrl":"https://doi.org/10.21203/rs.3.rs-5531247/v1","draftVersion":[],"editorialEvents":[],"editorialNote":"","failedWorkflow":false,"files":[{"id":91565904,"identity":"f13d342f-9dd9-4595-a0d4-375646f7e445","added_by":"auto","created_at":"2025-09-17 19:31:33","extension":"pdf","order_by":1,"title":"","display":"","copyAsset":false,"role":"manuscript-pdf","size":450603,"visible":true,"origin":"","legend":"","description":"","filename":"ManuscriptScientificReportsV4.pdf","url":"https://assets-eu.researchsquare.com/files/rs-5531247/v1_covered_67e287c6-488f-451e-85fd-3c603e722e33.pdf"}],"financialInterests":"No competing interests reported.","formattedTitle":" Assessment of Heavy-metal Leaching from Recycled Concrete Debris and Bottom Ash as Sustainable Alternatives for Railway Ballast in Tropical Environments ","fulltext":[],"fulltextSource":"","fullText":"","funders":[],"hasAdminPriorityOnWorkflow":false,"hasManuscriptDocX":false,"hasOptedInToPreprint":true,"hasPassedJournalQc":"","hasAnyPriority":false,"hideJournal":true,"highlight":"","institution":"","isAcceptedByJournal":false,"isAuthorSuppliedPdf":true,"isDeskRejected":"","isHiddenFromSearch":false,"isInQc":false,"isInWorkflow":false,"isPdf":true,"isPdfUpToDate":true,"isWithdrawnOrRetracted":false,"journal":{"display":true,"email":"[email protected]","identity":"researchsquare","isNatureJournal":false,"hasQc":true,"allowDirectSubmit":true,"externalIdentity":"","sideBox":"","snPcode":"","submissionUrl":"/submission","title":"Research Square","twitterHandle":"researchsquare","acdcEnabled":true,"dfaEnabled":false,"editorialSystem":"","reportingPortfolio":"","inReviewEnabled":false,"inReviewRevisionsEnabled":true},"keywords":"Sustainable materials, Railway Ballast, Recycled Concrete Debris, Bottom Ash, Heavy-Metal Leaching, Tropical climate.","lastPublishedDoi":"10.21203/rs.3.rs-5531247/v1","lastPublishedDoiUrl":"https://doi.org/10.21203/rs.3.rs-5531247/v1","license":{"name":"CC BY 4.0","url":"https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/"},"manuscriptAbstract":"\u003cp\u003eRailway track ballast comprises natural rocks such as granite and basalt. Substituting various waste materials instead of natural aggregate will considerably reduce environmental damage, promote sustainable development, and reduce cost. However, harmful substances may be leached that might change the quality of rivers. This study is conducted to monitor the heavy metal leaching activity under the influence of tropical weather change. Various track design samples were mixed in 6 different compositions and placed in a leaching tank for 270 days under room and hot temperatures. Samples were continuously heated at 40\u0026deg;C for 10 minutes at random intervals during day time. Some 2 ml of leachates were tested using the ICP-OES method to monitor the changes in the sample. The leaching of heavy metals was analyzed and compared with the specification of the National Water Quality Standards (NWQS) set by the Department of Environment (DOE) Malaysia. The mixture of 50% conventional ballast, 40\u0026ndash;45% inert concrete debris, and 5\u0026ndash;10% bottom ash is highly recommended. It was concluded that the leaching parameters were within the threshold permitted. 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