Porosity of expanded clay manufactured with addition of sludge from the brewing industry

Abstract

This study describes the industrial use of waste generated from the brewing industry, specifically sludge from a wastewater treatment plant. The processing technique was developed to produce ceramic material with the potential for use as a lightweight aggregate in construction. This waste is usually dumped in landfills, but the current increase in restrictions on dumping and interest in improving the environment make our proposal for gaining value from this sludge a significant contribution. The chemical composition of the raw materials was analyzed (using X-ray fluorescence and elemental analysis) and their thermal behavior evaluated (thermogravimetric analysis and differential thermal analysis). To determine the effect of adding sludge to the aggregate, different compositions were then prepared and tested. To obtain the material's final resistance and cohesion, the dried sample was subjected to a firing process in a kiln. The samples were prepared without special pre-treatment steps, such as milling, and without the addition of expansive additive. The new aggregate has a low bulk density, due to the formation of an internal cellular structure, a porous internal and a partially vitrified external shell. As waste is added, water absorption increases by values of 17-26 %, as does the porosity, resulting in a linear relationship between the pore volume and percentage of sludge added.

Degradation of widespread pharmaceuticals by activated sludge: Kinetic study, toxicity assessment, and comparison with adsorption processes

“…This can be related to the porous structure of both materials. Expanded clay materials are well known for its mesoporous structure [54], which allows better results.…”

Use of Sewage Sludge Ash in the Production of Innovative Bricks—An Example of a Circular Economy

“…The production of bricks with SSA involves the usual steps of mixing, molding, drying, and firing, using SSA as a substitute for clay or some of the other additives (e.g., sand or sawdust). The present research [32,[36][37][38] has shown justification for the production of bricks with added SS/SSA (maximum of 25 wt%), even though the results also differ between different authors indicating that results are influenced by the sludge origin, sludge treatment method, and the conditions used to generate the SSA.…”

The Acoustic Performance of Expanded Perlite Composites Reinforced with Rapeseed Waste and Natural Polymers

“…Currently, the converting of industrial or biomass wastes into useful products, with maintaining the quality requirements at low cost and environmental impact, became a challenge for the production of building materials. Thus, the embedding of different types of wastes in the structure of building materials with sound and thermal insulating properties has been reported in many research studies [12][13][14][15][16][17]. A large field of natural materials is known as quickly renewable raw materials added as appropriate components to obtain the lightweight composite materials with application in building, such as sound or thermal insulators.…”