Potential Use of Wastewater Treatment Plant Sludge in Fabrication of Burnt Clay Bricks

Faisal Amin, Safeer Abbas, Wasim Abbass, Abdelatif Salmi, Ali Ahmed, Danish Saeed, Muhammad Sufian and Mohamed Mahmoud Sayed
Additional contact information
Faisal Amin: Department of Civil Engineering, Lahore Leads University, Lahore 53101, Pakistan
Safeer Abbas: Civil Engineering Department, University of Engineering and Technology, Lahore 54890, Pakistan
Wasim Abbass: Civil Engineering Department, University of Engineering and Technology, Lahore 54890, Pakistan
Abdelatif Salmi: Department of Civil Engineering, College of Engineering, Prince Sattam bin Abdulaziz University, AlKharj 16273, Saudi Arabia
Ali Ahmed: Civil Engineering Department, University of Engineering and Technology, Lahore 54890, Pakistan
Danish Saeed: Department of Civil Engineering, Khwaja Fareed University of Engineering and Information Technology, Rahim Yar Khan 64200, Pakistan
Muhammad Sufian: School of Civil Engineering, Southeast University, Nanjing 210096, China
Mohamed Mahmoud Sayed: Architectural Engineering, Faculty of Engineering and Technology, Future University in Egypt, New Cairo 11745, Egypt

Sustainability, 2022, vol. 14, issue 11, 1-16

Abstract: Water treatment plants produce a huge amount of sludge, which are ultimately disposed to the nearest water channel, leading to harmful effects. This unmanaged wastewater treatment plant sludge (WTS) results in social and environmental concerns. Therefore, the utilization of WTS in construction activities can be a viable option for the management of waste sludge, leading to sustainable infrastructures. The main aim of this study was to investigate the potential of WTS in the manufacturing of clay bricks at an industrial scale. WTS was procured from the Rawal Lake water treatment plant, Pakistan. Clay was collected from a local industrial brick kiln site. Brick specimens with varying percentages of WTS (i.e., 5%, 10%, 15%, 20%, 30% and 40%) were casted and their mechanical and durability characteristics were evaluated. It was observed that the bricks incorporating WTS showed higher compressive and flexural strengths compared to that of the normal clay bricks. For instance, brick specimens incorporating 5% WTS by weight of clay showed a 10% increase in compressive strength. Furthermore, brick specimens incorporating 20% of WTS by clay weight satisfied the strength requirements as per local building codes for masonry construction. Scanning electronic microscopic (SEM) images confirm the porous microstructure of brick specimens manufactured with WTS, which results in 12% lighter clay bricks as compared to conventional clay bricks. Moreover, the durability characteristics of brick specimens incorporating WTS showed better performance. It can be concluded that bricks fabricated with a high proportion of WTS (i.e., 20%) will minimize the environmental overburden and lead to more durable and economical masonry construction.

Keywords: bricks; wastewater treatment plants; sludge waste; industrial kiln (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: O13 Q Q0 Q2 Q3 Q5 Q56 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2022
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (1)

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