Determination Of Sewage Sludge Composition As Partial Substitute In Clay Bricks
Sludge is an unavoidable by-product of wastewater treatment and creates problem of disposal. Generally, dewatered sludge is disposed of by landfilling. However, this option might not be appropriate due to land limitation and stringent environmental regulations imposed. Therefore, a joint effort s...
Saved in:
| Main Author: | |
|---|---|
| Format: | Thesis |
| Language: | English English |
| Published: |
2002
|
| Subjects: | |
| Online Access: | http://psasir.upm.edu.my/id/eprint/12112/1/FK_2002_75.pdf |
| Tags: |
Add Tag
No Tags, Be the first to tag this record!
|
| Summary: | Sludge is an unavoidable by-product of wastewater treatment and creates problem
of disposal. Generally, dewatered sludge is disposed of by landfilling. However,
this option might not be appropriate due to land limitation and stringent
environmental regulations imposed. Therefore, a joint effort study between IWK
and UPM was carried out to investigate the possibility of incorporating dried
sludge in building bricks at laboratory level as an alternative means of sludge
disposal while being an innovative way of making construction materials.
Bricks were produced with sludge additions ranging from 10 to 40% by dry
weight. The texture and finish on the surface of sludge-amended clay bricks were
rather poor. Nonetheless, they were every bit as attractive due to being light red in
colour and odourless. As for physical and chemical properties, bricks with up to
40wt% sludge were capable of meeting the appropriate technical standards.
However, bricks with more than 30wt% sludge amendment were not
recommended for use since they were brittle and easily broken even when handled
gently, Heavy metal leaching test carried out on crushed brick samples to simulate extreme environmental conditions resulted in leachate losses way below the USEP
A extraction procedure regulatory limits. Therefore, all the bricks with
different proportions of sludge were classified as non-hazardous materials and
should be safe for use as a building material.
In this study, which used the classical handmoulding method to compact the brick
specimens in custom-made wooden moulds, the quality of bricks produced were
quite varied and the structural properties results obtained were less than
satisfactory compared to that of other researchers (using extruders) mainly due to
the more uniform and higher moulding pressure applied on their bricks. However,
results obtained in this study would serve as a guide to subsequent full-scale
studies. On top of that, some anticipated improvements for future full-scale
brickrnaking process based on the preliminary results, to produce better quality
bricks, was given due attention. Knowing that the technical criteria of the bricks
could be optimized, however, this process may require consumer education and
regulatory assistance for long term success and acceptance. |
|---|