The aim of this work is to study ashes from the combustion of sunflower husks in order to determine their environmental suitability for reuse as a structural filler or as an aggregate in clay mixtures for the manufacture of ceramics. Various characterization techniques were used, such as optical and electronic microscopy, X-ray electron dispersive analysis, X-ray diffraction, analysis of particle size distribution, soluble solids, conductivity, pH, leaching test and ecotoxicity, among others. The results of chemical analysis show that the main elements are Mg, Ca, and P. The conductivity and pH values after 2h of stirring in distilled water are 17.11 mS and 11.46, respectively. Results from analysis of the leaching test determine that none of the measured values in the ashes exceed the limits established by law 24051 (Argentina) on hazardous waste. Regarding the ecotoxicity analysis, it is observed that sunflower husk ashes inhibit the growth of seedlings at the studied concentrations. It can be concluded that it is not convenient to use the ashes as soil filler because it would produce alkaline soil, transferring a large amount of electrolytes, and producing negative effects on the development of many species that need acid or slightly alkaline soil. From the experimental results and the analysis of the equilibrium diagrams of the major oxides of claywaste mixtures, the theoretical sintering temperature was determined. It shows that it is feasible to incorporate up to 20% of this waste material holding sintering temperatures commonly used in the ceramic industry (1050°C). For higher

Most of the national peanut production, estimated at 900,000 tons per year, is processed in several cities in the central area of Argentina. The third part of this amount corresponds to the shells, which are separated in the peanut selection and processing plants. In this work, the possibility of using peanut shells as raw material for the manufacture of ceramic materials for the civil construction industry is studied. There are precedents on the use of biomass residues in different building blocks, mainly with the aim of generating lightweight ceramics. With this objective, ceramic pieces were obtained from green bodies manufactured with mixtures of commercial clay and different percentages of ground and dry residue. After a drying period, the samples were heat treated following curves similar to those used in the ceramic industry. The raw material used, clay and peanut shells, were characterized with different techniques, such as XRD, SEM and DTA-TGA. The DTA-TGA analysis shows that the organic material added is burned in a wide temperature range, between 300 °C and 550 °C. Thus, the sintering process of the bricks is performed without cracking or shattering. This test also shows that after the heat treatment, the waste material eventually incorporated into bricks (ashes) is less than 3%. The obtained products have good physical and mechanical properties, with acceptable values of porosity, modulus of rupture, permanent volumetric variation and weight loss on ignition.