TECHNICAL NOTE Carbon Footprint Analysis of Coal Gangue in Geotechnical Engineering Applications Mohammed Ashfaq 1 • M. Heera Lal 1 • Arif Ali Baig Moghal 1 • V. Ramana Murthy 1 Received: 26 March 2019 / Accepted: 17 September 2019 Ó Indian Geotechnical Society 2019 Abstract Coal gangue is a mine waste generated during the mineral processing phase of coal production. With the surge in demand for coal in thermal power, steel and cement generation industries, the rate of coal gangue generation has reached unprecedented heights. With the realisation of potential threat posed by coal gangue, researchers have made attempts to explore many new avenues of applications for its bulk utilisation. Unfortu- nately, the implications of coal gangue utilisation on the surrounding environment have not been taken into con- sideration. In the present study, an attempt has been made to perform carbon footprint analysis on coal gangue to assess the CO 2 emissions in utilising it as an embankment material. A similar analysis is done to evaluate the emis- sions in its disposal process. The results obtained from both the analysis have been compared to assess the feasibility of utilising coal gangue in targeted geotechnical engineering applications. The studies corroborate the fact that the utilisation of coal gangue can lead to a significant decrease in the carbon footprints generation, thus leaving a positive impact on the environment. Keywords Coal gangue Á Carbon footprint Á Embankment Á Sustainability Á Waste disposal Á Lime Á Geomembrane List of Symbols C 0 The effective cohesion U 0 The effective angle of friction M CO 2 The total CO 2 emissions from the materials in the scenario I T CO 2 The total CO 2 emissions from the haulage of materials in the scenario I S CO 2 The total CO 2 emissions from the site operations in the scenario I T 1CO 2 The total CO 2 emissions from stage II in the scenario I T 2CO 2 The total CO 2 emissions from stage IV in the scenario I Introduction Sustainable development as a concept is globally recog- nised solution to meet the ever escalating climate crisis. Developing a sustainable framework activity is an emerg- ing challenge, and quantifying environmental impacts in civil engineering works is a prudent exercise in addressing this challenge. Life cycle analysis (LCA), a quantitative method to evaluate environmental impacts of a product or process, has been extensively used to gauge the environ- mental impact [1–3]. However, a full process-based LCA can be laborious and streamlining it to specific impact factors such as carbon dioxide (CO 2 ) emissions and/or energy consumption can make it simpler [4, 5]. A & Arif Ali Baig Moghal reach2arif@gmail.com; baig@nitw.ac.in Mohammed Ashfaq gmohdashfaq@gmail.com M. Heera Lal mhl@nitw.ac.in V. Ramana Murthy vrm_nitw@yahoo.com 1 Department of Civil Engineering, National Institute of Technology, Warangal, India 123 Indian Geotech J https://doi.org/10.1007/s40098-019-00389-z