Noor Amira Sarani

Testing on Building Material Using Waste Material in Fired Clay Brick

Clay brick is one of the building materials that have been used in the construction field for thousand years. It has been used as a major construction material because it can tolerate with severe weathering action, flexible properties and it is easy to handle. Many researchers have been incorporated waste material such as organic waste, waste treatment sludge, fly ash, cigarette butts, rice husk and processed waste tea into fired clay brick. This application gives an idea to use waste material that will give a minimum impact to the real environment. In this study, high calorific value waste such as cigarette butts (CBs) were incorporated into fired clay brick. Different percentages of CBs (0%, 2.5% and 5.0%) were added into the raw clay brick. All samples were fired up to 1050°C with different heating rates (1°C/min, 3°C/min and 5°C/min). Properties including compressive strength, dry density, firing shrinkage and water absorption are reported and discussed. The results show that the compressive strength of fired clay brick was obtained with 2.5% CBs of fired clay brick at 1°C/min heating rate compared to others. As for the density, it was reduced with higher percentages of CBs incorporated into the raw clays. From the results, water absorption was slightly increased when CBs were incorporated into clay brick. The results suggested that heating rates at 1oC/min is adequate to achieve optimum properties.

Properties of fired clay brick incorporating with sewage sludge waste

The production of sludge in wastewater treatment plant is about to increase every year and most of the sludge was directly disposed to landfill. In addition, the constraint to treat sludge is very high in cost and time- consuming could be disadvantages to the responsible parties. Therefore, this research was conducted to utilize sludge produced from the wastewater treatment plant into fired clay brick as one of the alternatives of disposal method. In this study, the research attempt to incorporate sewage sludge waste (SSW) into fired clay brick. The sewage sludge brick (SSB) mixtures were incorporated with 0%, 1%, 5%, 10%, and 20% of SSW. The manufactured bricks were fired at 1050°C with heating rate of 1°C/min. Physical and mechanical properties test were conducted such as shrinkage, density, water absorption and compressive strength. As the conclusion, brick with utilization 5% of SSW is acceptable to produce good quality of brick. This study shows by using SSW in fired clay brick could be an alternative method to dispose of the SSW and also could act as a replacement material for brick manufacturing with appropriate mix and design.The production of sludge in wastewater treatment plant is about to increase every year and most of the sludge was directly disposed to landfill. In addition, the constraint to treat sludge is very high in cost and time- consuming could be disadvantages to the responsible parties. Therefore, this research was conducted to utilize sludge produced from the wastewater treatment plant into fired clay brick as one of the alternatives of disposal method. In this study, the research attempt to incorporate sewage sludge waste (SSW) into fired clay brick. The sewage sludge brick (SSB) mixtures were incorporated with 0%, 1%, 5%, 10%, and 20% of SSW. The manufactured bricks were fired at 1050°C with heating rate of 1°C/min. Physical and mechanical properties test were conducted such as shrinkage, density, water absorption and compressive strength. As the conclusion, brick with utilization 5% of SSW is acceptable to produce good quality of brick. This study shows by using SSW in fired clay brick could be an alternativ...

Experimental and Theoretical Analysis on Thermal Conductivity of Fired Clay Bricks Incorporated with Cigarette Butts

Currently higher requirements in thermal performance is needed for the quality of building materials especially fired clay bricks. Thermal conductivity is an important criterion as it will influences the heat losses from building. The objective of this study is to validate the estimation value of thermal conductivity by using theoretical value with the experimental work conducted in the laboratory. The experiment data was collected in order to compare with a theoretical model that obtained the thermal conductivity value based on it relationship with dry density of fired clay bricks. Different percentages of CBs (0%, 2.5% and 5.0%) were incorporated into fired clay bricks. Different heating rates were applied during firing stage, which are 1°C/min, 3°C/min and 5°C/min respectively. All samples were fired up to 1050°C. The experimental work for thermal conductivity was carried out using the Hot Guarded Plate Method. Meanwhile, the theoretical result was obtained from the previous study using model developed. Throughout statistical analysis, some trend of thermal conductivity and dry density were revealed. The analysis results show that as the dry density decreased, thermal conductivity also decreased.

Thermal Conductivity of Fired Clay Bricks Incorporated with Cigarette Butts

Billions of cigarette butts (CBs) were discarded by smokers directly into the environment. It is known that CBs are one of the environmental pollution that could caused contamination on the street, sidewalks, waterways, beaches and public areas. Due to its small size but large in volume, CBs cannot be collected easily and most of it will be disposed directly to the landfill. Moreover, there is no easy mechanism to ensure the separation of the chemicals trap inside the CBs which is toxic to the environment. Therefore, by incorporating CBs into brick bodies will be an alternative solution to CBs littering and pollution problems. In this study, different percentages of CBs (0%, 2.5% and 5.0%) were incorporated into fired clay brick. Different heating rates were applied during firing stage which are 1oC/min, 3oC/min and 5oC/min respectively. All samples were fired at 1050oC. Thermal conductivity for cigarette butt brick (CB Brick) were tested using Hot Guarded Plate Method. From the results obtained, it could be concluded that; with higher percentages of CBs, the thermal conductivity properties were also improved which is desired but most of the brick manufacturers. CBs incorporated could be an alternative pore formers to improve the thermal properties of fired clay brick. At the same time, the porosity is also increased thus the density was significantly reduced to become lightweight brick.

The Usage of Glass Waste as Cement Replacement

The growth production and manufactured sector in Malaysia had led to increase the industrial by-product waste especially glass. These growing problems of glass waste can be reduced if new disposal method are utilized other than disposed it to the landfill. This study is focused on the utilization of glass waste with cement. The main objectives of this study are to determine the characteristics of glass waste and to conduct physical and mechanical properties test towards the concrete with different percentages of glass (10%, 20% and 30%). Samples of glass waste were collected and crushed to the powder size (40µm) before being mix in concrete mixture and their characteristics were determined by using X-Ray Fluorescent (XRF). Physical and mechanical properties include compressive strength, water absorption and density were tested. The results obtained demonstrated that, only sample with 10% of glass powder incorporated is complied with the minimum strength of the cube with 25.6MPa. However, all of the samples meet the minimum value for density and water absorption test. The density obtained is still in the range which is between 2116.1kg/m3 until 2239.4kg/m3. As for water absorption test, all of the samples obtained the value below than 6% and can be classified as a good concrete. As a conclusion, 10% of glass powder is the most suitable percentage to be incorporated into concrete mixture. This replacement could be an alternative disposal method to glass waste.

The Utilization of Coconut Fibre into Fired Clay Brick

Over the year, agricultural establishment produced many types of waste in its daily operation. Coconut fibre for example is one of the most abundant agricultural wastes produced in Malaysia. Despite the massive amount of the waste produced, the standards of waste management in Malaysia are still poor. The main purpose of this study is to focus on the potential of coconut fibre utilization into fired clay bricks. The objectives of this study are to determine the characteristics of coconut fibre, to identify the gas emissions during firing process from coconut fibre brick and to investigate the physical and mechanical properties of from coconut fibre (1%, 3% and 5%) incorporation into fired clay brick. All the bricks were fired in a furnace up to 1050°C at 1°C/min. The gas emissions that were measured are carbon monoxide (CO), carbon dioxide (CO2) and sulphur dioxide (SO2). Based on the three gases, the results showed that CO2 is the highest gas emission produced during the firing process. Physical and mechanical properties tested are total shrinkage, dry density and compressive strength. Results found that by adding different percentages of coconut fibre, most of the properties were complied with the standards except for the compressive strength of 5% of coconut fibre in clay brick. Therefore, the utilization of coconut fibre could be one of the alternative disposal methods for agriculture waste and it will also provide low-cost material for brick that produce adequate physical and mechanical properties.

Stabilization of heavy metals in fired clay brick incorporated with wastewater treatment plant sludge: Leaching analysis

Wastewater treatment sludge or known as sewage sludge is regarded as the residue and produced by the sedimentation of the suspended solid during treatment at the wastewater treatment plant. As such, this sludge was gained from the separation process of the liquids and solids. This sludge wastes has becomes national issues in recent years due to the increasing amount caused by population and industrialization growth in Malaysia. This research was conducted to fully utilize the sludge that rich in dangerous heavy metals and at the same time act as low cost alternative materials in brick manufacturing. The investigation includes determination of heavy metal concentration and chemical composition of the sludge, physical and mechanical properties. Wastewater treatment sludge samples were collected from wastewater treatment plant located in Johor, Malaysia. X-Ray Fluorescence was conducted to determine the heavy metals concentration of wastewater treatment sludge. Different percentage of sludges which are 0%, 1%, 5%, 10%, and 20%, has been incorporated into fired clay brick. The leachability of heavy metals in fired clay brick that incorporated with sludge were determined by using Toxicity Characteristic Leaching Procedure (TCLP) and Synthetic Precipitation Leachability Procedure (SPLP) that has been analyzed by using Inductively Coupled Plasma Mass Spectrometry (ICP-MS). The results show a possibility to stabilize the heavy metals in fired clay brick incorporated with wastewater treatment sludge. 20% of the sludge incorporated into the brick is the most suitable for building materials as it leached less heavy metals concentration and complying with USEPA standard.

Study on Fired Clay Bricks by Replacing Clay with Palm Oil Waste: Effects on Physical and Mechanical Properties

Palm oil is one of the major agricultural industries in Malaysia. Due to the poor management system, the discarded palm oil waste has always been linked to the environment issues. During processing of palm oil, a considerable amount of solid waste by-products in the form of fibres, shells, empty fruit bunches and fly ashes are produce rapidly. Therefore, this study was conducted to incorporate 1%, 5% and 10% of palm oil waste into fired clay brick. Samples of brick were fired at 1050°C temperature with heating rates of 1°C/min. Manufactured bricks were tested with physical and mechanical properties including firing shrinkage, dry density, water absorption and compressive strength. The results demonstrated that the replacement of 1% up to 5% of palm oil waste had improved several properties, although, a decrease of performance in certain aspects has also been observed. As a result, palm oil waste can be utilized in an environmentally safe way into fired clay brick thus providing adequate properties of fired clay brick.

Physical and mechanical properties by utilizing empty fruit bunch into fired clay brick

Palm oil plantation has become one of the country’s success stories in agricultural development which also generates the highest number of waste among the agricultural waste. In this study, the investigation on the possibility to utilize the empty fruit bunch (EFB) waste into the fired clay brick was carried out. The main purpose of this study is to determine the physical and mechanical properties of bricks incorporated with different percentages of EFB. In this study, bricks with four different percentages of EFB (0 %, 1 %, 5 % and 10 %) were manufactured. Manufactured bricks were fired at 1050 °C with heating rate of 1 °C/min. Physical and mechanical properties including shrinkage, density, Initial Rate of Suction (IRS) and compressive strength were reported and discussed. Since shrinkage for each mixing is below than 8 %, then a good brick was manufactured. Bricks become more porous due to the organic content of EFB are burnt away and voids are formed in the specimen, giving it a lighter appearance and...

Feasibility study on utilization of palm fibre waste into fired clay brick

Malaysia is the second largest of palm oil producer after Indonesia, which contribute to 50 % of palm oil production. With this demand, the increasing of palm oil plantation over the years has led to the large production of agricultural waste, for example palm fibre waste. This study investigates different percentages of palm fibre (0 %, 1 %, 5 % and 10 %) to be incorporated into fired clay brick. Manufactured bricks were fired at 1 °C/min heating rate up to 1050 °C. The effects of manufacture bricks on the physical and mechanical properties of manufactured brick were also determined. All brick samples were tested due to the physical and mechanical properties which include dry density, firing shrinkage, initial rate of suction (IRS), water absorption, porosity and compressive strength. Findings show that increasing palm fibre waste affected the properties of brick, which decreased their density, besides increased firing shrinkage, IRS, water absorption, porosity and compressive strength. However, all the ...