Evaluation of adding grits in the manufacture of soilcement bricks

Abstract

The production of residues in pulp and paper industry is continuously increasing, which generates storing expenses and greater environmental impacts. The grits is an inorganic solid waste generated during the Kraft process by the pulp and paper industry, which presents in its composition the main ingredients of Portland cement. Therefore this paper aims to evaluate the feasibility of incorporating grids to the manufacture of soil-cement compressed bricks. To set the ideal amount of waste to be used, various samples with varying contents of cement, soil and grits were carried. The materials were characterized by mechanicals, physical and environmental tests and the results are consistent with the prescriptive requirements. Regarding the compressive strength at 28 days, all samples had their mean values higher than the normalization, which is 2.0 MPa. The bricks produced with higher amount of grits showed better performance in compressive strength.