Sudjai Srichaitumrong. Utilization of sludge from water treatment plant as additonal material for building brick production. Master's Degree(Environmental Technology). Mahidol University. : Mahidol University, 2009.
Utilization of sludge from water treatment plant as additonal material for building brick production
Abstract:
This study used sludge from a water treatment plant to partially replace clay for brick
production. Sludge was collected from Thonburi water treatment plant three times at two-month
intervals. Three experiments collections of sludge were made, and the fourth experiment of combined
all of these extractions. There were two experiment groups, with and without rice husk (RH). In the
RH group the percentage of sludge varied 0 to 50 %, and from 15 to 55% in the without RH group, the
optimum proportion was selected by analyzing the properties of each proportion and the assessing the
possible unit cost of the different proportions.
The characterization of sludge in three collections was not different and the
characterization of all three collections was also not different. The drying, firing and total shrinkage of
the bricks mixed with 5% RH was lower than that for the bricks mixed without rice husk; so rice husk
helps to reduce the shrinkage of the bricks. Water absorption of both bricks mixed with 5 % RH and
without RH was higher than that of conventional bricks. Compressive strength of brick mixed with
both 5% RH and without RH was lower than that of conventional bricks, and also lower than the
requirements for building brick properties as stated in TIS 77-2002. The compressive strength of brick
without RH was higher than that of with RH, which shows that mixing with rice husk caused a decrease
in the compressive strength of the bricks.
The optimum composition of bricks were 10% sludge with 5% RH and 15% sludge
without RH. These proportions were selected based on the requirement of building brick properties
stated in TIS 77-2002. The bricks made from the mixture of 10% sludge with 5% RH had 22% cold
water absorption and compressive strength of 7.1 kgf/cm2. The bricks made from the mixture of 15 %
sludge without RH had 24.9% cold water absorption, and compressive strength of 15.4 kgf/cm2.
Leaching concentrations of aluminum from bricks mixed with 10% and 15% sludge proportions were
less than 0.001 mg/l. Considering bricks with a mixture of 15 % sludge without RH, the annual yield of
the bricks at 4,200,000 units helps to save 92.4 tons of rice husk per year, which as a cost of raw
materials for producing the bricks is around 378,000 Baht per year.