UTILISATION OF WASTE MATERIALS IN CLAY BUILDING BRICKS

摘要

The incorporation of waste materials into the production cycles is an interesting alternative in the modern industry, which leads to an economical profit and considerable reduction in environmental impact. The aim of this work is the study of the reutilisation of waste materials as foundry sands and steel dust, in order to replace raw materials partially and for preventing possible pathological behaviour, particularly the efflorescence in brick manufacturing. The used waste are often landfilled, despite having relatively high levels of some heavy metals of potential environmental concern; therefore there is now increasing incentive to develop economically viable reuse and recycling options. Clay and waste materials formulations have been developed obtaining novel sintered products, which have been characterised according to the chemical, technical and environmental approaches. Determination of the active soluble salts content of clay products and the physical properties, water adsorption and efflorescence, have been determined to assess the product quality. Finally the bricks meet standard commercial regulations were assessed environmentally considering the compliance test for leaching of waste materials EN 12457/1-2 proposed by EU. From the results obtained it was concluded that the studied waste materials constitute a potential source of raw material for the brick and structural clay product industry.