Development of an energy- and water-saving manufacturing technology of brick products

Abstract

In the work, the carrying of realizing three problems in the manufacture of brick products, namely, energy saving, water saving, and processing of large-scale waste (ecological problem), are considered. Four types of bricks have been obtained and investigated: red clay, red clay-milled cullet mixture, red clay-milled basalt (tezontle) mixture, and red clay-milled glass-milled tezontle mixture. To form the semi-finished products, water or wet waste of activated sludge were added to the dry mixtures. It is established that the presence of low-melting glass into double and triple compositions reduces the sintering temperature of ceramic products down to 900-1000 °C and sintering time to 8-12 h while maintaining good strength properties of ceramics. This means that the energy-saving technology is provided. The use of waste activated sludge (biowaste) with high water content allows us to exclude the introduction of water into dry mixtures at the stage of molding. This means that the water-saving technology is achieved. The introduction of a different content of burnt out bio waste contributes to the formation of brick products of different porosity. Variations on mixtures compositions and sintering modes make possible to synthesize ceramics of different applications: as a stone products, bricks for external and internal walls, porous bricks, and a filtering ceramics.

Mineralogical transformation and microstructure of the alluvials clays

“…The varied sizes of pores may be generated by the diffusive gas flow emanations (water and carbon dioxide) upon firing specially by the action of transforming clays [30,31]. This high porosity of the ceramics implies the presence of closed and open pores, which are important for the evaluation of the brick products properties [32]. The elemental mapping by EDS revealed that silicium, aluminium and iron are present in higher concentration close to the surface at 1150 o C. This remark is in conformity with the new mineral identified by XRD analysis like mullite, cristobalite and spinel which results from the combination of different ions during the melt process.…”

Evaluation of Kalalani vermiculite for production of high strength porcelain insulators

“…Table V shows that P-3 sample has the highest bending strength of 30.54 MPa at 20 wt% of Kalalani vermiculite content when sintered at 1250 o C. This might be due to vitrification and densification which filled the microcracks and voids in the microstructure of the porcelain sample [19]. Therefore, the mechanical properties of ceramic sample are strongly dependent on composition made, the sintering temperature and the sintering time [20]. The results of the study are in agreement with the works of [5,16].…”

Synthesis and properties of porous bricks obtained with the use of spherical expanded polystyrene particles of packaging material

“…Since in the given porous ceramics, low-ordered carbon is present, it must possess adsorption properties [12,13]. The performed investigations showed (Fig.…”

“…This concerns the development of modern efficient building materials, combining the properties of wall structural, heat-insulating, and sound-insulating materials. Moreover, the production of such ceramics must be based on an energy-and resource-saving technology to provide a substantial reduction in the production costs of bricks and building costs on the whole [10][11][12]. Porous bricks exhibiting sound-and heat-insulating properties are of great interest.…”

“…One of the methods to obtain porous ceramics is the introduction of decomposable inorganic compounds or combustible additives into clay mass [11][12][13][14][15]. Among organic additives that are burned out in sintering are biowastes consisting of aerobic and anaerobic bacteria.…”