Utilization of Cement Kiln Dust in Industry Cement Bricks

Abstract

ABSTRACT Solid waste management is one of the major environmental concerns around the world. Cement kiln dust (CKD), also known as by-pass dust, is a by-product of cement manufacturing. The environmental concerns related to Portland cement production, specifically emissions to the atmosphere and the disposals of CKD are becoming progressively significant. CKD is fine-grained, particulate material chiefly composed of oxidized, anhydrous, micron-sized particles collected from electrostatic precipitators during the high temperature production of clinker. Some of the cement kiln dust that is generated is reused in the cement plant and some is landfilled. Recently, there have been trends of utilizing it for soil stabilization and treatment of sewage. The beneficial uses of CKD include serving as filler material in highway construction and maintenance and as a component of cement mortar/concrete. Also, attempts have been made to use it to make cement bricks for use in industrial construction, and this paper provides a review of the results and issues associated with this use. The paper reports the results of tests conducted by the authors to investigate the properties of cement-CKD combinations and the extent to which such combination are used to manufacture cement bricks. All of the properties of the bricks that were tested found to be satisfactory according to the Egyptian Code, e.g., compressive strength was satisfactory in the range of 59.9 to 213.3 kg/cm2, water absorption was directly increased from 3.8 to 5.9% and the density ranged between 2.1 and 2.2 gm/cm3 with different percentage of cement kiln dust from 0 to 40%. In comparing the different types of bricks and their costs, this study found that cement bricks that include CKD as a component had acceptable properties and cost far less than other types of bricks. In addition, the use of CKD in the bricks precludes the need to dispose large quantities of this material in landfill.