Investigation on properties and leachability of sewage sludge from wastewater treatment plant incorporated in fired clay brick

Abstract

Sewage sludge is produced from wastewater treatment plant that often dumped into landfill sites, lagoons or together with municipal waste. Apart from this, the disposal of this sewage sludge becoming a problem for environment. Thus, an alternate method is needed to overcome the issue. Therefore, the objective of this study is to determine the possibility of incorporating sewage sludge in fired clay brick and to compare with normal fired clay brick. The characteristics of sewage sludge were determined by using an X-ray Fluorescence. The mixing percentage used was 0%, 1%, 5%, 10%, 20% and 30%. The physical and mechanical properties were determined as to obtain the condition according to it mixing percentages. Based on physical and mechanical properties, the sewage sludge brick complies with the standard except for SSB30% where the compressive strength does not meet the minimum requirement limit of compressive strength. However, in terms of leachability of this sewage sludge brick also resulted that the heavy metals leach out comply according to USEPA standard. The development of fired clay brick by using sewage sludge can reduce the dependency towards land use and will reduce the impact of the sewage sludge to the environment.