Simultaneous Reuse of Three Types of Wastes in the Preparation of Ecofriendly Ceramic Floor Tiles

摘要

Enormous amounts of wastes are produced annually from ceramic industries during its different production stages, a state of affairs which is associated with several environmental problems on land filling. Most of these wastes have not been properly utilized yet, so that implementing their use in the production of ceramic tiles as an alternative raw material will help in preserving natural resources, reducing the cost of production and hence producing an ecofriendly ceramic floor tile at lower cost. This paper discusses an adequate way of managing these wastes instead of their being disposed. Three types of wastes generated in ceramic tile manufacturing were reused in the tile production process: Waste sludge collected from different sections of the production line, fine powder collected from cyclones prior to tiles pressing and the powder obtained from periodically grinding the rollers of the kiln. The collected wastes were added in different ratios to a standard floor tile mix and factorial 2~3 design technique was used to investigate the effect of adding these wastes in different ratios on the properties of unfired and fired bodies. A suggested recipe was selected and three specimens were shaped in standard tile form, dried and fired at 1160°C for 15 minutes. Tests performed on these tiles reveal that they abide by standard requirements for ceramic tiles of water absorption lying in the range 3 - 6%.