Study on effect of partial replacement of sludge in bricks

Abstract

The present scenario shows, every day in Tamil Nadu 2.5 to 3 tonnes of waste sludge generated and there is no place to dump this solid waste because it contains many toxic constituents (copper, manganese, cadmium, chromium, potassium, sodium, etc.,) which may cause pollution of water sources and other problem, hence an attempt is made to reduce the pollution by manufacture eco-friendly bricks. Brick is the constituent material in construction industry. The main component of the brick includes clay, sand and water. Sludge is the waste product which is collected from the industries. The collected sludge is dried at open atmosphere for 40 days and powdered. The powdered sludge is replaced by clay (10%, 20%, 30%, and 40%) and sand (10% and 20%). The performance was found good when the various tests such as water absorption (30% replacement by clay and 10% by sand), compressive strength (by 10% in both clay and sand) and basic characteristics test for bricks are examined and determined.