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The purpose of this study is to investigate the using of rice husk (RH) which is a green material derived from agricultural waste with the ability to absorb heavy metal. It has been used in wastewater treatment. In this research, a kaolin-based green ceramic water filter (CWF) incorporated with two different additives (RH and zeolite-based RH ash [RHA]) was successfully fabricated.

The weight ratio of kaolin:additive was varied (90:10, 80:20 and 70:30) and fabricated via the slip-casting technique. The green CWFs were dried (60°C for 1 h), followed by sintering (1,200°C).

The green CWF of kaolin:RH with a weight ratio of 70:30 showed the best properties and satisfactory performance with a porous cross-section microstructure, highest porous area (4.58 µm²), good structure, lowest shrinkage (8.00%), highest porosity (45.10%), lowest density (1.79 g cm⁻³), highest water absorption (55.50%) and hardness (241.40 Hv). This green CWF has also achieved good permeability (42.00 L m⁻²h⁻¹) and removal of the textile dye (27.88%). The satisfactory characterization and good textile dye removal performance (75.47%) were also achieved from green CWF with kaolin:zeolite at a weight ratio of 80:20.

This research is focused on green CWF and zeolite at a certain amount with the specific characterization analysis methods.

The use of low-cost waste materials to treat dye wastewater from agricultural by-products/wastes sources in treating the dye will enhance the using of green material.

Avoiding the waste sludge that can pollute the environment can create a health issue. The use of low-cost waste materials to treat dye wastewater from agricultural by-products/wastes sources in treating the dye can avoid the waste sludge that can pollute the environment and create serious health issue.

All the kaolin-based green CWFs incorporated with two different additives (RH and zeolite-based RHA) fabricated using a simple slip-casting technique have shown the potential to be used as a filter in wastewater treatment applications.

Waste is typically encountered during the building's life cycle, from the design phase, through the construction phase, to modification and demolition. Most of these construction wastes are unnoticed or unattended by project managers, which lead to serious environmental problems. Effective waste reduction strategies will require a thorough and detailed understanding of the causes of construction waste. Hence, this paper aims to explore critical waste factors (CWFs) affecting the performance of construction projects.

An extensive literature review was carried out to determine these factors based on previous studies, from which a questionnaire was developed. Series of statistical analyses such as reliability analysis, Spearman Correlation, Kruskal–Wallis and factor analysis were performed on a total of 330 valid responses to identify latent factors responsible for wastes occurrence.

This study reveals 31 CWFs through evaluation of prior relevant studies carried out in several countries and then adjusted and validated through semistructured interviews. The significant differences in views within various groups of respondents with different organizational characteristics are highlighted. The results of factor analysis showed that there are six principal components extracted with 66.3% of variance explained (material-related factors; subcontractors and workers; planning, communication and coordination; people involvement and financial issues; people development strategies; and external factors).

This study differs from other studies in the literature by gathering all relevant waste factors including those related to nonphysical waste such as time, budget, workers and equipment. Furthermore, this paper will be of great interest to both practitioners and researchers since it brings various recommendations concerning the prevention/reduction of waste through lean construction for more sustainable construction projects.