Pilot and industrial scale tests of high-performance permeable bricks producing from ceramic waste

Abstract

Pilot and industrial scale tests for the preparation of permeable bricks were carried out in a refractory plant. The permeable bricks were firstly prepared using 82 wt% ceramic waste large aggregate by pilot test. The permeability, flexural strength and apparent porosity of the obtained permeable bricks can reach 3.2×10−2 cm/s, 6.8 MPa and 28%, respectively, and the relationships between these properties were studied. Moreover, industrial scale test was performed based on the best conditions of the pilot test, and 100 permeable bricks having a size of 140 mm × 280 mm × 80 mm were successfully produced using 600 kg of raw materials. The produced permeable brick has a high permeability of 3.0×10−2 cm/s, flexural strength of 6.3 MPa, as well as a relatively high apparent porosity of 26%, which exceed Chinese national standard GB/T 25993-2010. It has been found that a large number of through holes are homogeneously distributed within the permeable brick, which ensures the high permeability. Meanwhile, the binders make the aggregates interconnect with each other, guaranteeing sufficient mechanical strength. In addition, the energy consumption for whole producing process of permeable bricks is relatively low, about 1.4 MJ/kg. Hence, it is completely feasible to achieve industrial production of permeable bricks with good performance by using solid waste, which not only contributes to the construction of the sponge city, but also meets the requirements of cleaner production and brings obvious ecological and economic benefits.