A Paving Material for Dairy Facilities Utilizing Sugar-Manufacturing Waste

As the population of cows and cattles kept in Hokkaido district amounts to 1.3 million, or one-third of that in Japan, the dairy facilities like paddocks and paths easily turn to muddy with their large amount of feces and urine. In order to keep the facilities clean, the ground is required to be paved, so that we aimed to develop a new paving material suitable for dairy facilities, as low-cost, non-slipping and cold-resistant, and also aimed as well to utilize the lime cake from sugar-manufacturing process for the paving material. It has been believed that the lime cake is difficult to be solidified with cement, therefore such things are examined in this investigation, as (a) mixing fine aggregate like volcanic ash with the lime cake, and (b) reducing sucrose in lime cake by fermentation. The paving material developed in this investigation (abbreviated Lime Cake Pavement to LCP) has been tested for the paddock and working yard at a dairy farm. After passing 2 winter seasons, the LCP is kept in use without serious problems.