Abstract
The aim of the study is to investigate the potential use of water treatment sludge in brick properties as building material. The sludge was collected from water treatment plant and the percentages used in the mixes were 3%, 5%, 7%, 10% 15%, 20%, 40%, and 60% by weight of sand in brick. The specimen without sludge was prepared for comparison. The testing involved chemical analysis of sludges using energy dispersive X-ray fluorescence (ED-XRF) technique. Testing of compressive strength was done for hardened state properties. The samples were cured at 7 and 28 days, and the average of three samples of brick samples was measured. The results revealed that the waste sludges had higher components of Zn, Cu, Pb, and As, which was trace element concentrations in the dry sludge samples. Comparisons in terms of strength were made from the control and brick containing sludge specimens. It was observed that sludge in brick performed better when mixed with 5% as partial replacement of sand. However, the more the addition of percentages of sludge in brick, the lesser the strength observed. It can be concluded that waste treatment sludge as a result from the process of water treatment can be utilized as partial replacement of sand in brick production.
Highlights
The aim of the study is to investigate the potential use of water treatment sludge in brick properties as building material
Selangor is the richest state in Malaysia that produces clean water, which is estimated about 4476 million litres per day (Selangor Water Works, 2020)
It is concluded that the addition of water treatment sludge as partial replacement of fine aggregate in producing sand cement brick improves in terms of strength
Summary
The aim of the study is to investigate the potential use of water treatment sludge in brick properties as building material. It can be concluded that waste treatment sludge as a result from the process of water treatment can be utilized as partial replacement of sand in brick production. Water treatment sludge has the potential to be used as bricks in many aspects of studies in terms of strength and durability as well as different methods used to produce bricks from waste materials (Hegazy et al, 2012; Keerthana et al, 2019; Rahman et al, 2019; Sheikh et al, 2017). It is concluded that the addition of water treatment sludge as partial replacement of fine aggregate in producing sand cement brick improves in terms of strength. It is necessary to find out different ways for the management of sludge in order to minimise or reduce the environmental impacts associated from waste generation
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