An investigation of demolished floor and wall ceramic tile waste utilization in fired brick production

Abstract

The utilization of waste into construction material is an emerging area in order to achieve the goals of circular economy. This study is the first attempt to utilize demolished building floor and wall tile (DFWT) waste into fired brick production with two types of soils, i.e., laterite and alluvial soil. The soil and demolished building floor and wall tile waste were mixed in different ratios ranging from 5wt% to 45wt% at two different temperatures, 850 °C and 900 °C typical of firing regime in a commercial kiln. Raw material characterization revealed the chemical, elemental, physical, and mechanical properties of DFWT waste and techniques like XRF, XRD, FTIR, TGA, proximate & ultimate analysis were used. Final brick product was characterized by analysing​ compressive strength, water absorption, linear shrinkage, bulk density, and loss on ignition properties. Utilization of 35 wt% and 40 wt% of DFWT waste into fired brick satisfies the Indian standard and ASTM codes guidelines for 850 °C and 900 °C firing temperature respectively. The results of this study are helpful to meet sustainable development goals (SDG) 9, 11 and 12.