The Medway Valley: a Kent landscape transformed

In 1750 the lower Medway Valley, the area between the towns of Maidstone and Rochester, was firmly part of Kent's 'Garden of England'. A century later, this tranquil, agrarian landscape had been transformed into a hive of industry and commerce, through the emergence of papermaking, cement manufacture, brickmaking, brewing, ship and barge building, seed crushing and engineering. The lower Medway Valley became synonymous with the production of Portland cement, stock bricks and the steam engines of Aveling and Porter, yet, by the end of the Second World War, much of this industry was gone. "The Medway Valley: A Kent Landscape Transformed", the first Victoria County History publication in Kent for over 75 years, charts this cyclical story of landscape change. It explores how the quiet, rural landscape of a collection of eight riverside parishes around Rochester was dramatically transformed during industrialization, before returning to its formal rural state. This volume traces the impact of industrial development and decline on the valley and its people. It details changing patterns of work and society, the creation of new settlements and the pivotal role of the river in all aspects of village life reflecting two centuries of change and upheaval.

Production of lightweight aggregate from industrial waste and carbon dioxide

The concomitant recycling of waste and carbon dioxide emissions is the subject of developing technology designed to close the industrial process loop and facilitate the bulk-re-use of waste in, for example, construction. The present work discusses a treatment step that employs accelerated carbonation to convert gaseous carbon dioxide into solid calcium carbonate through a reaction with industrial thermal residues. Treatment by accelerated carbonation enabled a synthetic aggregate to be made from thermal residues and waste quarry fines. The aggregates produced had a bulk density below 1000 kg/m3 and a high water absorption capacity. Aggregate crushing strengths were between 30% and 90% stronger than the proprietary lightweight expanded clay aggregate available in the UK. Cast concrete blocks containing the carbonated aggregate achieve compressive strengths of 24 MPa, making them suitable for use with concrete exposed to non-aggressive service environments. The energy intensive firing and sintering processes traditionally required to produce lightweight aggregates can now be augmented by a cold-bonding, low energy method that contributes to the reduction of green house gases to the atmosphere.