Study on ancient green materials and technology used in Udaipur palace, India: an input to abate climate changes in modern construction.

The characteristics and potential for carbon dioxide capture and storage of the fifteenth-century lime mortar samples from City Palace, Udaipur, India, were studied. Physiochemical analysis followed by XRD, FTIR, TGA-DSC, and FE-SEM was performed. The findings demonstrate that calcium-rich eminently hydraulic mortars were used with a binder/aggregate (B/Ag) ratio of about 1:2.8±0.42. Mineralogy identified load-bearing phases: aragonite, vaterite, and calcite with 45±5% clay minerals. Absorption and stretching bands detected by FTIR at 1631 cm and 2954 cm corroborate the inclusion of plant organics. All samples showed aragonite around 870 cm, which can be traced back to bonded CO and the subsequent carbonation throughout the age of the structure. TGA-DSC validated XRD and FE-SEM analysis exhibited 18.66±3.40% weight loss at >600 °C, indicating calcite decomposition and CO release with CO/HO ratio of 3.31 to 3.66. From the historic example, a debate has been sparked about using lime mortars in contemporary construction to mitigate the carbon footprint with inherent attributes.