Ceramic Sanitary Ware Research Articles

High-temperature resistance of ceramic sanitaryware waste and fly ash-based geopolymer and hybrid geopolymer mortars produced at ambient curing conditions

In this study, five different hybrid geopolymer mortar mixtures were prepared, incorporating two different geopolymers and low percentages of Portland cement (PC), (16.6 % and 33.3 %). In geopolymer mixtures, 100 % ceramic sanitaryware waste (SW) and 100 % fly ash (FA) were used as precursor materials. In hybrid mixtures, the precursor materials include FA+ PC, SW+PC, and FA+SW+PC. The flexural and compressive strengths of mortars were determined up to 56 days to investigate their strength development. Additionally, the mortars were exposed to elevated temperatures up to 800 °C, separately. After the high-temperature exposure, phase (XRD) and microstructure (SEM/EDS) analyses were conducted on the selected mortars. All the hybrid geopolymers had higher flexural and compressive strengths than the geopolymers for all the curing ages. The highest 28-day flexural and compressive strength values of 5.3 MPa and 37.0 MPa were obtained on the mixture where FA+SW+PC precursors were used in equal amounts, respectively. The geopolymer and hybrid geopolymer mortars (containing 16.6 % PC) performed well under the high-temperature effect up to 800ºC. The strength values of all the mortars were obtained higher at 800ºC than at 600ºC. After high-temperature exposure, additional crystalline phases such as gehlenite were detected in hybrid mortars.

Ability of Ceramic Composite Beads as a Pre-treatment for Laundry Wastewater and Preparation of the Process

Abstract The escalating demand for laundry services, particularly in university districts, has raised concerns about its impact on biodiversity. The situation becomes even more critical when wastewater is discharged into drainage systems without adequate treatment. This study aimed to enhance laundry wastewater treatment by employing ceramic composite beads using ceramic sanitary ware waste and chitosan. The investigation began by characterizing laundry wastewater to identify its specific attributes. Subsequently, the study quantified the removal of zinc as a metal during the laundry wastewater treatment process. Laundry wastewater characteristics were assessed using various parameters, including pH, chemical oxygen demand (COD), total suspended solids (TSS), and turbidity. The result revealed that the treatment of laundry wastewater with ceramic composite beads adsorbent successfully achieved over 50 % reduction in zinc concentration. These findings showed that the ceramic composite bead exhibited an efficiency for metal removal from the laundry wastewater for safe disposal.

The Performance of Portland Cement Pastes (OPC) Incorporated with Ceramic Sanitary Ware Powder Waste (CSPW) at Ambient Temperature

The physical and mechanical performance of Portland cement pastes (OPC) incorporated waste ceramic sanitary ware powder waste (CSPW) at ambient temperature has been investigated. Cement mixes were prepared by replacing the cement with CSPW at proportions of 0, 4, 8, 12, 16 and 20 wt. %. The results showed that the water of consistency and setting times (initial and final) were increased with the gradual addition of CSP, whereas the water absorption and total porosity were decreased, while the bulk density slightly was enhanced but only up till 16 wt. % CSPW. The same trend was displayed with mechanical properties, where the flexural (FS) and compressive strengths (CS) of the cement specimens were also improved and enhanced till 16 wt. %, but then all were decreased with further addition of CSPW. The experimental results indicated that the CSPW has a potential to be successfully recycled in the OPC pastes as a partial replacement merely up to 16 wt. % which had a better performance than the blank at ambient temperature. The FT-IR spectra illustrated that the amount of CSHs was increased, while that of free lime content decreased. This was conformed by SEM microscopy. Moreover, the recovery of CSPW contributes to both reducing environmental pollution and CO2 emissions.

Investigation of Defects Occurring in the Casting Shop Process of Ceramic Sanitaryware on the Final Product

When the export values of ceramic sanitaryware in Türkiye are analyzed, it is seen that the data for the year 2022 of ~660 million dollars continues to increase. In the sector, which reaches an annual average increase of 100 million dollars, the amount of production as well as the design demands change and shape the market. The most important difficulty factors in design are due to the fact that the products in the sector have large sizes, complex shapes and the most human-made production stages. When these factors are compared with other ceramic sectors, it is revealed that although industrialization has increased in the production of ceramic sanitaryware, the lack of production amount and the excess of faults are among the biggest problems. Glaze faults are the leading faults observed in the final product, and since this problem is not recyclable, it harms the ceramic sanitaryware industry in terms of cost. In this study, the glaze faults reflected in the final glazed products originating from the casting shop stage, which attracts attention in this field due to its large size and whiteness and there is not much data for the vitreous ware industry in the literature, have been studied. In the study, which was carried out with the aim of detecting and eliminating some faults in industrial production and creating data for the literature, faults arising from mechanical evenings used in classical and pressure casting benches and material residues used in retouching processes were determined. These faults were produced on the basis of the laboratory and the characterization of the glazed faulty products was made. It is concluded that production losses can be reduced by eliminating these problems, consequently increasing quality and productivity.

DETECTION AND CHARACTERIZATION OF SOME GLAZE FAULTS ENCOUNTERED IN SANITARYWARES

The use of suitable glaze compositions, which enable ceramic sanitaryware (such as sink, toilet bowl, toilet bowl, etc.) to have better hygienic, aesthetic and technical properties, is of great importance as in other ceramic products. Glaze compositions, which provide durability to sanitaryware materials, reduce impact resistance and give ceramic material a hygienic appearance, are produced as ~97% white color depending on the preferences of the consumers, therefore, surface defects attract more attention in glazing and post-glazing process applications. When faults occurred during the different stages of manufacture detected on the final product, failure to detect faults on the final product by passing many production stages poses a problem in terms of intervention in the process. Faults that occur during glaze preparation are important in terms of cost. Since it is a stage in which many economic evaluations have been made in production, eliminating the faults caused from glaze preparation prevents further financial loss. In this study, the appearance of the faults in the sanitaryware items and the change in their regions (occured as a result of the oils contaminations from the machinery and components used in the preparation of glaze, the pipes of the tanks used in the glaze transport tanks and the glaze transfer or the impurities contaminated from the environment, the splashing of the impurities by the colored glazes in the glazing cabinets etc.) were characterized by means of SEM (Scanning Electron Microscopy), XRF (X-ray fluorescence spectrometry), XRD (X-Ray Diffractometry) and color measurement (L a* b*) analyses. According to the data derived from the final defected products, the faulty products were imitated by using the same components and methods on the plates under the laboratory conditions. Finally, the solutions for the problems were determined on the basis of faulty products obtained in the laboratory.

Investigation of the effect of type and grain size of feldspar on thermal properties of ceramic sanitaryware

Investigation of the effect of type and grain size of feldspar on thermal properties of ceramic sanitaryware

CO2 capture using lithium-based sorbents prepared with construction and demolition wastes as raw materials

CO2 capture was tested using lithium silicates prepared with construction and demolition waste materials (CDWM) to climate change mitigation. Four types of CDWM with high silicon and aluminum content were evaluated: sand, block, ceramic sanitary ware (CSW), and concrete wastes. CDWM were characterized by XRF, XRD and SEM-EDS; subsequently, the non-conventional precursors were mixed with LiOH and thermally treated in two stages: at 250 and 550 °C. Li4SiO4 was synthesized using conventional SiO2, applying the same synthesis method, and used as a reference. Li4SiO4, Li2SiO3 and LiAlO2 crystalline phases were obtained from all CDWM. Additionally, Li2CaSiO4 was detected in the case of wastes with high calcium content (block and concrete). The prepared Li4SiO4 samples were evaluated using the TGA technique for CO2 capture in dynamic and isothermal modes. The bulk CO2 adsorption in the Li4SiO4 prepared with CDWM started at a lower temperature (380 °C) than the material prepared with conventional precursors (500 °C). The temperature of CO2 sorption maxima was estimated at around 600 °C, being the Li4SiO4 prepared with block waste the material with the best performance. According to the isothermal analysis, the block-derived lithium silicate achieved a maximum CO2 capture capacity of 183 mg/g at 580 °C with PCO2 = 0.2; the desorption was observed above this temperature. The kinetic results (Avrami Eroffev model) were similar to those of Li4SiO4 prepared with conventional SiO2. Moreover, the stability of the materials was demonstrated during 20 cycles of the sorption-desorption process, displaying a constant sorption capacity of 180 CO2 mg/g.

Effect of waste ceramic sanitary ware as partial replacement of aggregates and cement in concrete

Effect of waste ceramic sanitary ware as partial replacement of aggregates and cement in concrete

Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) of ceramic sanitaryware: focus on the production process and analysis of scenario

The reduction of environmental impact is today the main challenge of the ceramic industry that is always more focusing on materials in line with the principles of economic and environmental sustainability. In this context, this study addresses the implementation of a Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) on the production of ceramic sanitaryware, based on a cradle-to-grave analysis. Specifically, the process was considered from raw materials until the product is manufactured, excluding the disposal phase except for process waste. The analysis of the impact assessment considers three different scenarios: (i) The first examines the current state; (ii) the second considers the recovery of fired waste and water as well as the replacement of firing and annealing ovens with new generation ovens; (iii) the third, in addition to the technologies used in the second, proposes the use of a photovoltaic system to produce green energy and, additionally, a "plant" energy recovery system. The results show how production processes have a considerable impact on the environment, in terms of energy consumption and materials. Moreover, the use of a photovoltaic system together with the recovery of water allows a significant reduction of environmental impacts. In contrast, the crushing processes for the recovery of fired waste worsen the environmental performance of the plant, because of the high consumption of electricity. Therefore, by improving the waste recovery system and adopting the solutions of the third scenario in terms of energy savings, it would be possible to reduce the environmental burden of the production system considerably. At the same time, the use of additional equipment and production processes increases the costs of the manufacturing and has a significant impact on maintenance.

Design of the usability of ceramic sanitary ware waste in cement production using the Taguchi method

The cement process is one of the industries where energy is consumed intensively. High levels the amount of carbon dioxide emission reaches since the nature of the raw materials used in its production. At this point, using industrial wastes and by-products containing oxides such as calcium, silica, alumina, and iron oxides blended cement reduces energy consumption and carbon dioxide emissions. In this study, the effects of using ceramic sanitary ware waste (CSW) instead of clinker on the cement grinding stage were investigated. The grinding tests were carried out with clinker in a ball mill, according to grinding parameters as ball filling ratio, ball diameter, and grinding time by using Taguchi method for optimization of cement grinding condition. The reference and blended cements with CSW were determined compressive strength.

Investigating the Drying Process of Ceramic Sanitary Ware at Low Temperature

Drying is one of the stages with the highest energy consumption in the manufacturing process of ceramic materials and aims to reduce the product’s moisture to levels necessary for safe firing stage, reducing the chances of defect formation. For sanitary ware, there is an additional energy cost in the pre-drying stage, which takes place immediately after removing the parts from the molds, and is carried out in an environment with lower temperatures (ranging from 30 to 40 °C). This work aims to experimentally study the drying process of sanitary ware at low temperatures, with particular reference to sanitary toilets with industrial dimensions. Four drying experiments were carried out in an oven with different operating conditions (temperature and relative humidity). The results indicate that an increase in temperature and reduction in relative humidity provoke a faster drying rate. For some physical situations, it is more interesting to dedicate efforts to reducing the relative humidity of the drying air instead of seeking solutions to raise its temperature. Furthermore, a correlation between the linear retraction and moisture content was observed; the greater the moisture loss, the greater the sample shrinkage.

Influence of Stone Cutting Waste Addition on Technological Properties of Ceramic Sanitaryware Bodies

Influence of Stone Cutting Waste Addition on Technological Properties of Ceramic Sanitaryware Bodies

A decision support system for consolidated distribution of a ceramic sanitary ware company

This study proposes a model-driven decision support system (DSS) for a consolidated distribution problem of a ceramic sanitary ware company with two factories producing different types of products. The primary motivation for consolidating loads of the these factories is to better use the empty capacity of the vehicles in terms of weight and volume. For transportation, the company has made contracts for each factory with a third-party logistics provider. In these contracts, there are special conditions according to the characteristics of the products. We suggest two kinds of transportation approaches that determine how to combine loads of two factories and how to solve the routing problem that arises to distribute the remaining loads. The DSS includes a mathematical model that determines full-truck loads and a hybrid genetic algorithm that solves the open vehicle routing problem. Both of these approaches have been developed specifically for the problem within the scope of the study. The mathematical model provides the best use of vehicles in terms of volume and weight. At the same time, the meta-heuristic approach offers the opportunity to address the complex cost structure of the emerging routing problem. The proposed DSS receives all order data from the enterprise resource planning system and constructs a dynamic distribution problem. Then it generates solution alternatives by using the models developed in this study and presents cost-effective and visualizable distribution plans.

Recycling detoxified cement asbestos slates in the production of ceramic sanitary wares

The recycling of cement asbestos slates (CASs) thermally treated in air at 1100 °C as secondary raw material in the production of Vitreous China (VC) sanitary wares has been investigated. Deactivated cement asbestos powder (DCAP) has been used in individual substitutions (5 wt%) of quartz and feldspar. The single raw materials, the ceramic technological properties before and after firing, and the phases and microstructure evolution during firing have been investigated with a variety of techniques, including those commonly used for production quality checks and instrumental methods for mineralogical analyses. DCAP acts as flux rather than as inert in the firing process, promoting greification. Although the substituted samples have some critical aspects that need to be addressed before processing, such as the presence of sulphate salts that increase the dispersant demand and the colour of the fired ceramic body, the overall technological properties are comparable to those of normal production, suggesting the possible reuse of DCAP powder in the production of sanitary wares.

Parametric chamfer alignment based on mesh deformation

Alignment for natural images in unconstrained environment is a challenging task. Despite the success for complex deformation, existing feature-based methods may be confused in low-textured regions where features are insufficient, while pixel-based approaches may fail when color changes. In this paper, a parametric chamfer alignment method based on mesh warping model is proposed. Warped positions of mesh vertices are considered as parameters and estimated by optimizing an object function, which measures the chamfer distance of edges and the smoothness of warping. To distinguish the sharpness of pixels, edges are detected through K-means cluster and weights are attached to different levels of edge points. In addition, after the warping model is initialized by feature-based alignment, a growing technique for registering the vertices is presented. Experiment shows that the proposed method outperforms some state-of-the-arts on real data and can be applied in stitching ceramic sanitary ware images.

Cleaner Environment Approach by the Utilization of Ceramic Sanitaryware Waste in Portland Cement Mortar at Ambient and Elevated Temperatures

Cleaner Environment Approach by the Utilization of Ceramic Sanitaryware Waste in Portland Cement Mortar at Ambient and Elevated Temperatures

Precipitated silica, alkali silicates and zeolites from construction and demolition waste materials

The construction and demolition industry generates a large volume of wastes, which are used in the same industry to elaborate new cementitious materials. However, the use of the mentioned wastes to prepare other type of silicate materials has been little reported. In the present work, silica, sodium silicate, potassium silicate, SAPO-34 zeolite and zeolite X, phillipsite, and sodalite were prepared using local sand waste, concrete, ceramic sanitary ware waste and building block. First, the wastes were characterized to know the elemental composition and mineralogical phases. Further alkaline fusion was carried out with NaOH and KOH, respectively. The products obtained in this step were neutralized with H2SO4 solution to form precipitated silica with high purity. For the zeolite experiments, SAPO-34 zeolite was synthesized using the precipitated silica, sodium aluminate, and H3PO4. Low Si/Al ratio zeolites were synthesized using the sodium silicate and like potassium silicate. The results of XRD technique show the formation of amorphous sodalite and phillipsite zeolites. Pure zeolite X was obtained only with the sodium silicate prepared from the ceramic ware waste; however, the use of an alternative aluminum source could be used with the other wastes to promote the formation of pure zeolites. With the non-conventional use of construction and demolition industry wastes, new technical opportunities were demonstrated herein to obtain functional materials promoting the circular economy and sustainable development.

Integrated environmental and economic life cycle assessment of improvement strategies for a ceramic industry

Industry is accountable for over one quarter of EU final energy consumption and one fifth of carbon emissions. To meet EU targets towards carbon neutrality, efforts need to take place in different industrial sectors, especially in energy intensive ones. Methodologies and tools aimed to support decision towards both cost and emission reduction targets are key to boost the adoption of cleaner production practices in industry. As an energy and resource intensive sector, the ceramic industry needs support at identifying and implementing solutions to lower its environmental impacts while being economically feasible. Thus, this work proposes a methodological approach to assess the environmental and economic life-cycle performance of alternative improvement scenarios for a ceramic sanitaryware manufacturing plant. By analyzing the actual process energy consumption and existing waste heat potential, three waste heat recovery scenarios are assessed and compared to the existing system to reduce natural gas consumption. Furthermore, aiming to lower the embodied emissions associated with electricity consumption, the installation of an on-site photovoltaic plant is also studied. The results show that, by applying heat recovery from flue gases to preheat combustion air, the industry may achieve a significant reduction of the environmental impact embodied in their products (−13% of CO2-eq emissions), while attaining notable economic savings with assumable payback period within the investment life-time. Results also show that despite the higher investment costs, the electricity self-production through photovoltaics strongly contributes to a greater reduction of several environmental impacts (up to −33% CO2-eq), with higher economic savings and payback time. The proposed methodological approach proves to be useful to compare the environmental and economic benefits of investment decisions and raise industrial confidence in strategies towards carbon neutrality.

Mechanical and microstructural characteristics of geopolymer mortars at high temperatures produced with ceramic sanitaryware waste

Excessive amounts of solid wastes are generated by the ceramic sanitaryware sector in the world. Recycling ceramic wastes is one of the crucial solutions to ensure their elimination. This experimental study investigates the mechanical and microstructural characteristics of geopolymer mortars with recycled ceramic sanitaryware waste powder (CSW) exposed to high temperatures. The geopolymer mixtures are produced using CSW with four different molarity (10, 12, 14, and 16 M) of NaOH as alkali-activator and two water/binder ratios (0.45 and 0.50). The investigated properties of the CSW-based Mortars (CSW-M) are the flowability, unit weight, apparent porosity, flexural strength, compressive strength, phase, and microstructure utilizing X-ray diffractometry (XRD), and scanning electron microscopy (SEM/EDS). The increase in NaOH concentration is observed to improve the flow workability of CSW-M and reduce the apparent porosity and water absorption of specimens. Mechanical test results indicate that strength values of CSW-M increase with increasing NaOH molarity. The highest strength is obtained on the CSW-M made with 16 M NaOH and 0.45 w/b ratio. The crystalline phases are determined to be mullite, quartz and albite derived from ceramic sanitaryware waste. Additionally, zeolite is formed by the secondary reaction product after elevated temperatures. Performance analysis results reveal that using ceramic sanitaryware waste is a strong alternative material as a binder to produce geopolymer mortars and contributes to the elimination of the waste.

Potential use of ceramic sanitary ware waste as pozzolanic material

This paper evaluated the pozzolanic activity of ceramic sanitary ware (CSW) waste when blended with Portland cement (PC). CSW waste units were broken, crushed and milled to reduce their particle size. These particles were characterized by scanning electron microscopy (SEM-EDX), laser granulometry, X-ray fluorescence (XRF) and X-ray diffraction tests (XRD), and were then used to replace 0–50wt.% PC CEM I 42.5R in pastes and mortars. Workability of the fresh mortars was assessed by the flow-table spread test, and the mechanical properties and microstructure (thermogravimetry, SEM-EDX, XRD and Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy tests) were investigated in samples cured at 20°C for up to 365 days. No significant workability variations were observed with increasing waste contents and, although pozzolanic activity of CSW was relatively slow, it improved with the curing time, and mortars prepared with up to 25wt.% ceramic waste satisfied the requirements established for other pozzolanic materials, such as fly ash.