International Conference on Global Trends in Engineering, Technology and Management (ICGTETM-2016)
Utilization of Waste Sludge in Brick Making
Miss. Shrutakirti A. Mahajan#1, Dr. M. Husain *2
#
SSBTE,Department of Civil Engineering,
North Maharashtra University, Jalgaon MS, India.
*SSBTE, Head ofDepartment of Civil Engineering,
North Maharashtra University, Jalgaon.MS, India
Abstract —The Indian automotive industry has
emerged as a 'sunrise sector' in the Indian economy
with an annual production of 23.37 million vehicles in
2014-15. Even it is a value adding industry, it has
several environmental impacts causing land and water
pollution with toxicity. Effluent sludge waste
management becomes a big problem nowadays.
Except engineered landfills, rest of the methods for
dumping, leads ground water contamination and there
by other socio-economic impacts. Many studies have
been conducted in this area and reported that the
pollution level is high in ground water and nuisance
due to dumping in the treatment plant area premises.
There is a growing need to find alternative solutions
for the sludge management. In the present study, an
attempt has been made to utilize the automotive ETP
sludge (dry) in making of construction materials,
which is produced from TATA MOTARS, PUNE. Even
to analyse the sludge, have been studied. For inducing
strength materials like fly ash, lime, sand, cement,
CaCl2, have been used. Sludge bricks show better
compressive strength when compared with normal fly
bricks or building bricks.
Keywords— Brick, Sludge, Compressive Strength.
I. INTRODUCTION
Tata Motors Limited is India‘s largest automobile
company, with consolidated revenues of 42.04 billion
in 2014-2015.Tata Motor‘s presence cuts across the
length and breadth of India. Over 8 billion Tata
vehicles ply on Indian roads.In automobile industry by
employing various processes and operations and
consumes large quality of water and produces
extremely polluting waste effluents. The amount of
waste water produced from ETP is 2.7 MGD. While
treating the wastewater released from automobile
industries huge volume of sludge is produced. Due to
lack of disposal methods, this sludge is causing lot of
environmental
problems.
Indian
construction
industries are running short of construction materials.
In the present investigation, an attempt is made to
study the strength characteristics of sludge mixed with
other constituents.
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II. LITERATURE REVIEW
A. Present Scenario
There are about 36,000 hazardous waste generating
industries in India which generate 6.2 million tonnes
out of which land fillable hazardous waste is about 2.7
million tonnes (44%),Incinerable Hazardous waste is
about 0.4 million tonnes (7 %) and recyclable
hazardous waste is about 3.1 million tonnes (49 %).
Indiscriminate and unscientific disposal of wastes in
the past has resulted in several sites in the country to
become environmentally degraded.
There are 141 hazardous waste dumpsites that have
been primarily identified in 14 States/UTs out of
which 88 critically polluted locations are currently
identified.
Gujarat (about 29%), Maharashtra (about 25%) and
Andhra Pradesh (about 9%) are the top three HW
generating States. Thereafter, Chhattisgarh (about
5%), Rajasthan, West Bengal and Tamil Nadu (about
4 %) are found to be major generators of HW.
These seven States together, are generating about 80
% of country‘s total HW. About 64
Common Hazardous Waste Transportation, Storage
and Disposal Sites (TSDFs) have been identified in
various States/UTs out of which 35 sites have been
notified. 25 TSDFs are operational and 9 TSDFs are
under construction.
As per the National Inventory of Hazardous Waste
Generating Industries, total waste handling capacities
of TSDFs is about 1.5 MTA and there is a deficit of
about 1.2 MTA for land fillable wastes and about 0.9
MTA for Incinerable wastes.[5]
B. Sludge Generation
Biologically degradable and non-degradable organic
and inorganic pollutants existing in the wastewater in
soluble, colloidal or suspended form are removed by
number of methods in waste water treatment plants.
The suspended solids and some of the dissolved solids
that are present in the wastewater as well as the ones
which are added or cultured by wastewater processes,
are separated in the form of settle able solids [6]
Thus, sludge is the solids, liquid or semisolids
residuals (concentrated contaminants) generated as a
byproduct of waste water treatment. Usually sludge
contains 0.25-12 % solids by weight, depending upon
the operations and the processes used [12]
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Sludge treatment/disposal represents 50 % of the
capital and operational costs of wastewater treatment
plant.
As mentioned above, the effluent treatment plant
consists of physical, chemical and biological unit,
each unit generating different types of sludge.The safe
disposal of these types of wastes has received a
considerable attention in recent years to protect the
environment. The various types of sludge with explicit
examples are depicted in Fig.2.1
SLUDGE
Industrial
Domestic
Fig.1 Types of sludge
Sludge can become a problem if they are improperly
managed or disposed of. It can induce threeimpacts on
the environment distinguishing the gaseous, liquid and
solid phase. [6]
 Impact on the soil composition by the input
of compounds enriched in theSludge
(potentially toxic elements and compounds,
pathogens and parasites).
 Impact on the percolating water and
consequently on the ground water.Quality by
the immobilization of the compounds
accumulated in the soil.
 Impact on the neighboring environment by
eventual problems of odor Nuisance.
C. Related Works
According to Sengupta et.al.(2002) [15], petroleum
sludge was hazardous sludge containing high amount
of hydrocarbons. The petroleum sludge contains oil,
water and inorganic material. The major constituents
of the sludge are SiO2, CaO, Al2O3 and Fe2O3. The
result shows that, the quality of brick sludge is better
than the standard bricks due to color and less fuel of
firing.
Compressive strength results shown the Soil: Sand:
Water (SS) and Soil: Sand: Sludge (SSS) brick
produced 16.45MPa and 16.02MPa respectively
higher than commercial brick with 9.06MPa. All
bricks complied with all requirements according
Indian standard. Most of the metals (Mn, Cr, Sb, Ni,
Co, and Hg) are emitted during firing. By using this
sludge, it will reduce the requirement of water and
fuel in brick manufacture and could be one of the
disposal methods for the hazardous sludge.
cement ratio, sludge to cement ratio and cement
replacement percentage. The solidified sludge
performance was measured by compressive strength
and permeable porosity.
The optimum ratio of water to cement was found at
0.45 and cement to sludge of 8. Rice husk ash (RHA)
was added at 5, 10 and 15 % cement replacement. 5 %
RHA exhibited the best performance with regards to
unconfined compressive of 24.9 N/mm2. The strength
was better than the sludge cement of 19.2 N/mm2.
Permeable porosity has inverse relationship with
strength at water to cement ratio of 0.4. However at
water to cement ratio of 0.45, the relationship showed
different trend where increase in porosity cause
increase in strength.
Porosity was found to increase with increasing RHA
content. The surface morphology of solidified cement
with voids was found to be in the range of 10 to 15μm
for 15 % RHA.
Stone sludge was another sludge that studied by
Rajgor et al. [11] to be used in clay bricks.
Varying percentages of stone sludge 10%, 20%, 30%,
40%, 50% and 60% were incorporated in the clay
bricks. All samples were fired at 1050ºC. The results
for compressive strength are 2.11MPa to 4.2MPa and
water absorption ratio is from 8% to 12%.
III. MATERIALS AND METHODS
A. MATERIALS
Chemical Sludge: The chemical sludge which is used
in this study was collected from the Automobile
industry located at Pimpri, Pune.
Ordinary Portland Cement: OPC of grade 53 was
used in this study which was bought from a local
dealer.
Stone Dust:Stone waste has been commonly used as a
building material. Today industry‗s disposal of the
stone waste material is one of the environmental
problems around the world. Stone waste blocks are cut
into smaller blocks in order to give them the desired
shape and size. During the process of cutting, in that
original stone waste mass is lost by 30% in the form of
dust.
Fly Ash:Fly ash used in the present study was
collected from Thermal power plant, Nasik.
Lime:Physical state of Lime is in powder form, white
in colour,Odorless, Soluble in Water.
CaCl2: Physical state of CaCl2is in powder form,
white in colour,Odorless, Soluble in Water.
According toJayeshkumr Pitroda [10]. Mixture
proportioning was conducted to find optimum water to
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Water:Normal portable water is used in this study.
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International Conference on Global Trends in Engineering, Technology and Management (ICGTETM-2016)
B. Methodology
Collection of Sludge
Drying of sludge
Brick making
Testing of bricks
Fig.2 Methodology
Collection of Sludge
Collection of waste sludge is done in sludge drying
bed which is generated from ETP.
There is 12 drying bed for holding the waste sludge.
Sludge is brought from holding tank and then left over
the bed.
Drying of Sludge
The waste sludge which is left over drying bed is
allowed to dry for 7to 10days.
The drying method is completely natural. Natural
solar energy is used for the drying purpose. Available
water in sludge is evaporated in atmosphere by the sun
heat.
Brick making
For the given study proper solidification of brick is
necessary essential. Selection of suitable proportion of
different kind of material for achieving good strength
is essential.
After selection of proper proportion for brick the dry
homogenous mixture is done.
With adding the appropriate water wet homogenous
mixture is done and finally the mortar is allowed to
making brick sample.
Testing of Bricks
Following tests shall have conduct on brick sample
1. Compressibility test (as per IS-3495(Part1):1992
2. Water Absorption test (as per IS-3495(Part2):1992
3. Efflorescence test (as per IS-3495(Part3):1992
4. Soundness test
Compressibility Test (as per IS-3495(Part-1):1992:
Aim: To determine the compressive strength of bricks
Apparatus:Compression
testing
machine,
the
compression plate of which shall have ball seating in
the form of portion of a sphere center of which
coincides with the center of the plate.
Sampling: Remove unevenness observed the bed
faces to provide two smooth parallel faces by
Grinding.Immerse in water at room temperature for 24
hours.Remove the specimen and drain out any surplus
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moisture at room temperature. Fill the frog and all
voids in the bed faces flush with cement mortar (1
cement, 1 clean coarse sand of grade 3mm and down).
Store it under the damp jute bags for 24 hours filled by
immersion in clean water for 3 days Remove and wipe
out any traces of moisture.
Procedure
(I) Place the specimen with flat face s horizontal and
mortar filled face facing upwards between plates of
the testing machine.
(II) Apply load axially at a uniform rate of 14N/mm2
(140kg/cm2) per minute till failure occurs and note
maximum load at failure.
(III) The load at failure is maximum load at which the
specimen fails to produce any further increase in the
indicator reading on the testing machine.
The average of result shall be reported.[9]
Compressive Strength (N/mm2)= Max. load at
failure in / Avg. area of bed surface
Testing Bricks For Efflorescence (as per IS3495(Part-3):1992: Distilled water to be filled in a
dish of suitable size. The dish should be made of
glass, porcelain or glazed stone ware. Place the end of
the bricks in the dish, the depth of immersion in water
being 25 mm. Place the whole arrangements in a
warm (for example, 20 to 30oC) well ventilated room
until all the water in the dish is absorbed by the
specimen and the surface water evaporate. Cover the
dish with suitable cover, so that excessive evaporation
from the dish may not occur. When the water has been
absorbed and bricks appear to be dry, place a similar
quantity of water in the dish and allow it to evaporate
as before. Examine the bricks for efflorescence after
the second evaporation and report the results as:
NIL–When there is no perceptible deposit of
efflorescence.
SLIGHT- Not more than 10% area of the brick
covered with a thin deposit of salt.
MODERATE- Covering upto 50% area of the brick.
HEAVY- Covering 50% or more but unaccompanied
by powdering or flacking of the brick surface. [9]
Water Absorption test (as per IS-3495(Part-2):1992
Determination of Water Absorption: (24-hour
Immersion Cold Water Test)
APPARATUS:A sensitive balance capable of
weighing within 0.1percent of the mass of the
specimen and a ventilated oven.
PRECONDITIONING: Dry the specimen in a
ventilated oven at a temperature of 105 to 115 °C till it
attains substantially constant mass. Cool the specimen
to room temperature and obtain its weight (M1).
Specimen warm to touch shall not be used for the
purpose.
PROCEDURE: Immerse completely dried specimen
in clean water at a temperature of 27 ± 2 °C for 24
hours. Remove the specimen and wipe out any traces
of water with a damp cloth and weigh the specimen.
Complete the weighing 3 minutes after the specimen
has been removed from water (M2). Water absorption,
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Soundness test:
Two bricks stuck with each other. Brick of good
quality should not break and produce
a ringing sound. [9]
1 4 D a y s C o mp . S t r e n g t h i n N / mm2
Com. Strength In N/Mm2
Per cent by mass, after 24-hour immersion in cold
water is given by the following formula:
(M2 – M3) / M1 x 100
Where, M1 = Dry weight of Sample
M2 = Weight after 24hrs in water.
[9]
10.43
12
10
8
6
4
2
0
M-1
6.95
6.52
M-2
M-3
SAMPLE
IV. RESULTS
Fig.3.a 14 days Com. Strength
A.Different Proportion of Trial Mix
10
20
40
17
20
2
1
30
40
17
10
2
1
Sludge
18
20
13.1
15
9.84
10
5
0
M-1
M-2
M-3
SAMPLE
Fig.3.b 28 days Com. Strength
B.Compressive Strength of Sample
Fig.3. a and Fig.3. b illustrates the compressive
strength of the bricks tested.The addition of sludge is
in less amount to the other constituents increased the
compressive strength of bricks. Even so,the addition
of sludge is more in percentage resulted in reduction
of compressive strength. However, sludge being finer
than soils itself, it also may fill the voids within the
soil causing reduction in void space thereby making
bricks denser. Hence, the filler action of sludge should
increase the compressive strength of bricks. The
observed changes in strength should obviously be the
sum total of these two effects. Filler action is
dominant when percentage sludge added is less than
5%. Further addition of sludge occupies the space only
by pushing the coarse sand particles in the soil apart.
This will result in reduction in the friction between
sand particles which contribute significantly to the
compressive strength of bricks. Therefore, reduction
in compressive strength is expected at higher
percentages of sludge.
C. Water Absorption
Influence of sludge on water adsorption is shown in
Fig.4. This indicates that water adsorption of mixture
is within the standard value. Howeverthe water
absorption should be less than 20% by weight.
28 days Water Absorption in %
Water Absorption In %
M-1
%
M-2
%
M-3
%
Com. Strength In N/Mm2
2 8 D a y s C o mp . S t r e n g t h i n N / mm2
TABLE I
PROPORTION OF SAMPLE
Cement Sand Fly
Lime CaCl2
Ash
40
17
30
2
1
2.5
2
1.5
1
0.5
0
1.93
M-1
1.48
1.45
M-2
M-3
Sample
Fig.4 28 days Water Absorption
D. Efflorescence Test:
There is no perceptible deposit of efflorescence;
therefore liability to efflorescence shall be reported as
‗nil‘.
V. CONCLUSION
The conclusions reached in this study were based on
the experimental program executed in this research,
and limited on both the tested materials and the testing
procedures employed:
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International Conference on Global Trends in Engineering, Technology and Management (ICGTETM-2016)




Automobile effluent treatment plant sludge
can be a successful partial substitute for
brick.
From the compressive strength study was
found The strength of bricks decreased with
increase in sludge concentration.
Water adsorption results also indicated that
sludge have less water absorption power.
The bricks with sludge did not have any
effect of efflorescence.
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