Investigations of the influence of various industrial waste materials containing rice husk ash, waste glass, and sediment soil for eco-friendly production of non-fired tiles

Abstract

Attempting to reduce the energy consumption of various manufacturing processes is one of the alternative ways to conserve energy. Furthermore, an expanding industry has resulted in a large amount of solid wastes generation. Exploiting wastes as alternative materials for saving energy to produce valuable products is a great challenge. Therefore, this study aims to utilize waste materials, e.g., rice husk ash, brown glass cullet, and sediment soil for producing non-fired tiles. Twenty-four formulas were conducted and divided into three groups (A, B, and C). Each formula mixture was uniaxially pressed at 10 MPa and cured for 7 and 28 days. This research work examined the use of brown glass cullet as a replacement for river sand in group A. The best formula of group A with the highest modulus of rupture had been selected for further research in group B. After that, formulas of group B were replaced laterite soil with sediment soil and local clay, which the best formula of group B was also taken by adding 5% and 10% of rice husk ash in group C. The result showed that the best formula was B1 containing 15% replacement of river sand with brown glass cullet and 5% replacement of laterite soil with local clay at 28 days of curing. Formula B1 has the modulus of rupture of 15.95 MPa and water absorption of 12.87% that can meet the Thai Industrial Standard 2508–2555 type BIII of wall tiles. Its energy consumption cost in the non-firing process could reduce 5.04 USD/m2 when compared with that of the fired tile at 950 ºС. Besides, an extensive experimental program was carried out including scanning electron microscopy (SEM), X-ray diffraction (XRD), and colorimetric CIELAB method. It can be summarized that developing non-fired tiles by utilizing waste materials is feasible to reduce energy consumption and waste disposal costs.