Characterization of ceramic bricks incorporated with textile laundry sludge

Solidification/stabilization (S/S) treatment of wastes is a suitable alternative to immobilize contaminants within a chosen material. This work proposes the mixing of textile laundry wastewater sludge with clay in order to produce bricks for civil construction. The applied sludge and clay were previously characterized in terms of their composition, microstructure and thermal behavior. Ceramic bricks were fabricated with different quantities of textile laundry sludge and they were evaluated in terms of their mechanical characteristics, besides environmental issues verified through leaching and solubilization tests. The obtained results showed that sludge can be incorporate until a concentration of 20% (mass basis) producing suitable bricks in terms of its mechanical properties. Besides, the produced brick are safe and inert according to the applied leaching and solubilization tests. (C) 2011 Elsevier Ltd and Techna Group S.r.l. All rights reserved.