New brick: Integration between clay and paper sludge

Abstract

Brick is one of the most widely used construction materials in the world. Many modifications and development have been made to place industrial waste such as paper sludge on building construction. Utilization of waste materials shall not only solve waste problems but also provide a new source for construction purpose. In this study, an investigation was conducted to study on the viability of using paper mill sludge, an industrial waste generated by paper mills factories as an alternative material applied as partial replacement of clay in brick. X-ray Fluorescent test is a method to determine chemical properties for clay and paper sludge. Major component for clay is silica and for paper sludge is calcium. For compressive strength the greatest strength is range 40 % to 50 % which value are 7.26 MPa to 8.73 MPa. The comparison between of brick strength can be attributed to the high water cement ratio and the absence of silica compound in paper sludge, which is essential for bonding and structuring of brick. In water absorption test, range percentage for 24 hours is 33.33 % to 50.31 %. Paper sludge additions above this limit reduced the compressive strength and density of the bricks and increased the amount of water absorption. Based on the results from this study, the most suitable mix proportion replacement of paper sludge in clay brick is less than 50 %.