Construction and Building Materials 121 (2016) 154–160

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Construction and Building Materials

journal homepage: www.elsevier.com/locate/conbuildmat

Fabrication, microstructure and properties of bricks fired from lake

sediment, cinder and sewage sludge
Y.M. Zhang a,⇑, L.T. Jia a, H. Mei a, Q. Cui b, P.G. Zhang a, Z.M. Sun a
a
School of Materials Science and Engineering, Jiangsu Key Laboratory of Construction Materials, Southeast University, Nanjing 211189, China
b
Wuxi Guolian Environment & Energy Group Co. Ltd., Wuxi 214131, China

h i g h l i g h t s

 Sludge was used in combination with lake sediment and cinder to make bricks.
 Their effects on the properties and microstructure of the bricks were clarified.

a r t i c l e i n f o a b s t r a c t

Article history: Lake sediment, cinder and sewage sludge were used as raw materials to prepare three types of fired brick
Received 31 March 2016 samples. Measurements were made on the plasticity index, oxide composition and mineral composition
Received in revised form 24 May 2016 of raw materials and the linear drying shrinkage, water absorption, bulk density, compressive strength,
Accepted 26 May 2016
thermal conductivity and freeze-thaw resistance of the fired brick samples were investigated. XRD,
SEM and MIP were used to analyze the phase composition and microstructure of bricks. It was found that
sewage sludge can be used together with lake sediment and cinder to produce bricks which meet the
Keywords:
requirements of Chinese specifications. The incorporation of cinder and sewage sludge into lake sediment
Lake sediment
Cinder
reduced the linear drying shrinkage of adobe, but at the same time increased the water adsorption and
Sewage sludge lowered the compressive strength and the frost resistance of the fired brick. The difference in the prop-
Fired brick erties of the three types of bricks can be explained from the characteristics of their microstructure.
Microstructure Ó 2016 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

1. Introduction materials and to fertilize farms [9,10]. In brick making, it is a high

value-added way to employ the dredged sediments as one of the
In China, lake waters cover a vast area of more than 91,019 km2, raw materials. Lake sediment was reported to be applied to pro-
accounting for 0.95% of the entire area of the country [1]. Accom- duce sintered bricks. Chiang et al. [11] focused on the feasibility
panying the population expansion in China, rapid development of of producing bricks from sediment using different firing tempera-
the economy brings tremendous pressure on the environment. tures and clay additions. He et al. [12] investigated the preparation,
Many lakes have pollution problems, such as eutrophication characteristics and mechanisms of sintered bricks manufactured
[2,3], heavy metals pollution, etc [4–6]. A survey on the water qual- from Yellow River sediment and red mud. The results show that
ity of sixty-seven lakes throughout China by Li [7] showed that the good quality of sintered bricks could be obtained by the addi-
about 80% of the lakes have high pollution levels [8]. One of the tion of 40% red mud at the sintering temperature of 1050 °C for 2 h.
important measures to manage the lake problems is to dredge sed- Xu et al. [13] assessed the feasibility of the use of sediments as a
iment, which not only improves the environmental condition of raw material to produce high-insulation brick. The results indicate
water body, but maintains the good function of the shipping chan- that compared to the clay samples, the thermal conductivity of the
nel. Consequently, large scale of dredged sediments is produced, bricks decreased by at least 40% due to the highly porous struc-
which would be another pesky environmental problem if appropri- tures. A factory scale experiment was conducted to demonstrate
ate ways to utilize the sediments lack. At present, the sediments the practical use of river sediments into brick production by
are mainly employed to create landscape, to produce building Samara [14].
On the other hand, a mass of sewage sludge is brought out in
the process of disposal of municipal sewage. Some sewage sludge
⇑ Corresponding author. contained certain organic compounds and trace elements
E-mail address: [email protected] (Y.M. Zhang).

http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.conbuildmat.2016.05.155
0950-0618/Ó 2016 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.
 Y.M. Zhang et al. / Construction and Building Materials 121 (2016) 154–160 155

necessary for plant growth, and was used as fertilizer or soil condi- morphology of the lake sediment, cinder and sewage sludge observed under SEM.
It can be seen that all the three types of raw materials possess porous structure.
tioner to increase soil fertility [15,16], incineration [17] and landfill
However, most of the particle size of lake sediment (Fig. 1a) lies below 20 lm, smal-
[18], and the preparation of lightweight aggregate [19–21]. Using ler than the particles of cinder (Fig. 1b) and sewage sludge (Fig. 1c). Fig. 1(c) demon-
sewage sludge as a raw material to produce bricks has been inves- strates that sewage sludge intended to form spherical particles with very porous
tigated as well. Lin et al. [22] found that good quality clay-sludge shell after drying process.
bricks could be obtained with 10% sludge with 24% of moisture
content prepared in the extrusion process and fired at 880– 2.1.1. Plastic index
960 °C. Ren et al. [23] studied the utilization of the urban sewage The plastic index was evaluated by the Atterberg limits test according to the
procedure as described in the national standard (GB/T 50123-1999) [27]. Normally,
sludge in the process of sintering brick with fly-ash and clay. The
the clay applied to make brick has a plasticity index (PI) value ranging from 7 to 15.
results showed that the qualities of the brick samples by adding Larger PI generally causes larger linear drying shrinkage, increasing the possibility
30 percent sludge could meet the needs of manufacturing produc- of cracking. The PI value of lake sediment in this study was 14.2.
tion. Chen et al. [24] investigated the effect of introducing nano-
SiO2 particles as strengthening additives in the clay–sewage sludge 2.1.2. Oxide composition
bricks. With the addition of nano-SiO2 ranging from 0% to 3%, the The chemical composition of the raw materials measured by X-ray fluorescence
bending strengths of bricks were increased. Chiang et al. [25] uti- (XRF) is given in Table 1.
Silicon, aluminum and iron were the major compositions in lake sediment,
lized the mixes of sewage sludge and rice husk to produce light- while the mass ratio of silicon and aluminum in cinder and sewage sludge were
weight bricks. The experimental results revealed that materials lower than that of sediment. The loss on ignition (LOI) of sewage sludge was far
containing 15% rice husk that were sintered at 1100 °C produced more than sediment, which indicated that the sludge contained large quantity of
relatively high strength materials and low bulk density. Abdul organic matters.
et al. [26] concerned with the problem of leaching of metals from
the bricks produced from sewage sludge, the results of the leaching 2.1.3. Thermal analysis
Thermal behaviours of sediment, sewage sludge were tested by thermo-
tests confirmed that the process of sintering makes the metal less
gravimetry (TG) and differential scanning calorimetry (DSC) to determine sintering
leachable. temperature [28–30], as shown in Fig. 2(a) and (b), respectively. In the DSC curve of
In this work, using lake sediment as main raw material, cinder lake sediment, Fig. 2(a), the exothermic peak at 310.6 °C, was caused by the com-
as ridge material, and sewage sludge as pore-forming agent to pro- bustion of organic matter, while the endothermic peak at 577.0 °C was attributed
duce bricks was investigated on bench scale. Properties, including to the transformation of quartz a into b [31]. The obvious weight loss at tempera-
ture up to 600 °C in the TG curve, Fig. 2(a), was caused by the removal of adsorbed
linear drying shrinkage, bulk density, compressive strength, frost
water and crystal water. The weight loss between 600 °C and 900 °C was caused by
resistance of the fired bricks, and the microstructure of fired bricks combustion of coke. At temperature above 900 °C, almost no weight change was
were studied. measured. The total loss on ignition measured was 5.1%.
The combustion of sludge is generally divided into three stages [32]: removal of
adsorbed and crystal water, decomposition of organic matter, decomposition and
2. Materials and methods carbonization of residual organic matter. In Fig. 2(b), the exothermic peak in the
DSC curve at around 300 °C was caused by decomposition of organic matter. In
2.1. Raw material addition, there is a high exothermic peak at 406 °C caused by combustion of organic
matter and coke. Endothermic peak at around 655.3 °C was caused by decomposi-
Lake sediment was obtained from the Changdang Lake, Jiangsu, China; cinder tion of carbonate [33]. A continuous weight loss in the temperature range of 25–
was obtained from a local thermal power plant; sewage sludge was provided by 700 °C was observed in the TG result of sludge, Fig. 2(b). The weight loss of 11.6%
a sewage treatment plant. All the three raw materials were dried, and then crushed between 25 °C and 200 °C was caused by the removal of adsorbed water, whereas
into powders, which were then screened by a 2 mm-sieve. Fig. 1 presents the the weight loss of 30.6% between 200 °C and 500 °C was mainly due to the

Fig. 1. SEM micrographs of raw materials: lake sediment (a); cinder (b); sewage sludge (c).
156 Y.M. Zhang et al. / Construction and Building Materials 121 (2016) 154–160

Table 1 Table 2
The chemical composition and LOI of lake sediment, cinder and solid sewage sludge Raw mix proportions for laboratory brick production (wt%).
(wt%).
Mix Lake sediment Cinder Sewage sludge
Oxide Lake sediment Cinder Sewage sludge
1 100
SiO2 69.74 39.04 22.97 2 90 10
Al2O3 16.20 9.39 9.68 3 85 10 5
Fe2O3 5.78 19.50 25.67
CaO 1.29 15.44 22.22
MgO 2.11 0.91 1.40
Na2O 1.24 0.00 1.70 3. Results and discussion
K2O 2.13 0.48 0.77
LOI 5.11 1.04 47.50 3.1. Properties of the bricks

Fig. 3 shows the three bricks fired from different raw materials.
volatilization of organic matter. At temperatures above 600 °C, no weight loss or The surfaces of Brick 1 (Mix 1 – sediment alone) and Brick 2 (Mix 2
increase was observed. The total loss on ignition of sewage sludge was measured
to be 47.5%, much higher than lake sediment. Meanwhile, the process of combus-
– sediment + cinder) were smooth and delicate. However, the addi-
tion of organic matter produced a large amount of heat, which is helpful to sintering tion of sewage sludge roughened the surface of Brick 3 (Mix 3 –
process of sludge. sediment + cinder + sludge), which was caused by the burning of
the large spherical particles with high LOI. The properties of three
2.2. Methods
types of bricks, including the linear drying shrinkage, bulk density,
water absorption, coefficient of thermal conductivity are listed in
2.2.1. Preparation of fired bricks Table 3.
The sieved raw materials were blended to produce homogenous mixtures con-
taining 20 wt% water with adequate plasticity. The mixtures were aged for 3 days
before being used. The mix proportion used in the experiment is shown in Table 2.
3.1.1. Linear drying shrinkage
The linear drying shrinkage in the drying process of adobe sam-
ples is an important factor which controls the cracking of the prod-
2.2.1.1. Forming. Adobe samples were formed using extrusion process. The process- uct. As seen from Table 3, the linear drying shrinkage of Brick 1 was
ing parameters to produce adobes from the mixtures containing 20 wt% of moisture
were optimized as, 1 MPa of forming pressure, 0.075 MPa of pressure in vacuum
6.45%, higher than the other two mixes. This is due to the fact that
zone. The extruded bars were cut into two sizes of smaller blocks in dimensions the sediment particles were smaller than that of cinder and sludge,
of 100 mm  28 mm  17 mm and 50 mm  28 mm  17 mm, respectively. and had high plasticity index. With the addition of 10% of cinder,
the linear drying shrinkage of Brick 2 reduced to 5.49% due to
2.2.1.2. Drying. Adobe samples were dried at room temperature in the laboratory for
the restraint effect of coarse cinder particles which suffered no vol-
24 h, followed by an oven drying at 105 °C for a holding time span sufficiently long ume shrinkage during the sintering process. The linear drying
so that the weight maintained constant. The heating rate was controlled at 10 °C/h. shrinkage of Brick 3 was 5.35%, a little smaller than Brick 2. This
may be attributed to the large and hard particles of the dry sludge
2.2.1.3. Sintering. Dried specimens were fired in a laboratory electric furnace with a
which served as skeleton to some extent.
heating rate of 100 °C/h, and dwelled for 2 h at the maximum temperature 950 °C,
followed by cooling with the furnace. 3.1.2. Bulk density
The bulk density, which is strongly related to the loss on igni-
2.2.2. Test method tion, is a key parameter for the brick. As seen from Table 3, the bulk
Some important properties (bulk density, water absorption, compressive density of Brick 1 was 1710 kg/m3. With the addition of 10% of cin-
strength) characterizing the quality of the resultant bricks were evaluated in accor- der, the density of Brick 2 reduced to 1686 kg/m3. The addition of
dance with the Chinese standard (GB/T 2542-2012) [34]. Thermal Conductivity sewage sludge further reduced the bulk density of Brick 3 to
Analyzer (TPS 2500S) was used to measure the thermal conductivity. The
microstructure of the final products was examined using a scanning electron micro-
1633 kg/m3. The main reason for such a difference in bulk density
scope (SEM). Porosity and pore size distribution of the fired bricks was measured by is due to the different content of the organic matter in each mix.
mercury intrusion porosimetry (MIP). Compared to lake sediment, the sewage sludge had a very high

Fig. 2. TG-DSC curves of lake sediment (a) and solid sewage sludge (b).
 Y.M. Zhang et al. / Construction and Building Materials 121 (2016) 154–160 157

Fig. 3. Appearance of the final bricks.

Table 3
Properties of adobe and final bricks.

Mix Linear drying shrinkage (%) Bulk density Water absorption (%) Thermal conductivity Compressive strength (MPa)
(kg/m3) (W/(m k))
24 h Water absorption 5 h Boiling water absorption
1 6.45 1710 15.4 17.4 0.623 33.1
2 5.49 1686 17.2 18.7 0.610 25.4
3 5.35 1633 16.5 17.9 0.533 20.5

LOI, as seen from Table 3, therefore resulting in looser structure all the three types of bricks meets this requirement in Chinese
than lake sediment sample after sintering at high temperature. standard (GB/T 5101-2003) [36] (minimum compressive strength
For Brick 2, the slight reduction in bulk density is resulted from value of common fired bricks with strength grade of MU 20 was
the low density of cinder itself. The proper reduction of the bulk 20 MPa).
density of brick is beneficial to the decrease of the weight of build-
ing and the increase of the heat insulation efficiency. 3.1.5. Freeze-thaw resistance
Frost resistance test was conducted to evaluate the durability of
3.1.3. Water absorption and thermal conductivity the bricks. Five specimens of each mix were tested according to the
Water absorption and thermal conductivity are the key factors procedure described in the Test Methods for Wall Bricks (GB/T
affecting durability and heat insulation performance of the bricks. 2542-2012) [34].
Water absorption and thermal conductivity of fired brick are The results of frost resistance of bricks are shown in Fig. 4. It can
related to the internal pore structure, which results from the evap- be seen that the weight loss of all the bricks after 100 cycles was
oration of water in drying stage, the combustion of organic matter, much lower than 2%, which is the requirement of GB/T 2542-
and the decomposition of mineral during sintering stage [35]. 2012 [34]. Brick 1 performed the best under frost attack, with Brick
Water absorption of the brick samples are presented in Table 3. 3 followed, while Brick 2 showed the highest weight loss, which
The 24 h water absorption, dependent on the amount of open agrees well with the results of water adsorption.
pores, and 5 h boiling water absorption, dependent on the amount
of total pores of Brick 1, was 15.4% and 17.4%, respectively. The
3.2. Crystal phase and micro-structure analysis
addition of cinder increased the 24 h water absorption and 5 h
boiling water absorption of Brick 2, which was caused due to the
The XRD patterns of ground fired brick particles was presented
relatively loose structure of cinder itself. Compared to Brick 2,
in Fig. 5. It indicates that all the bricks have the same phase com-
the 24 h water absorption and 5 h boiling water absorption slightly
position. Quartz was the major phase while traces of albite and
dropped in Brick 3. The reason was that the combustion of signif-
hematite were also detected. The crystal phase albite played a role
icant organic matter from sludge produced a large amount of heat,
in fusion during the sintering stage [37] which has a high melting
which promoted the sintering of the particles around sewage
temperature above 1000 °C. Fe2O3 was transformed from ferric
sludge. This explanation will be further verified from the MIP test
hydroxide, which had an impact on the colour of sintered brick.
in Section 3.3.
As seen from Table 3, the largest thermal conductivity were
obtained in Brick 1, 0.623 W/(m k). When cinder was added to lake
sediment, the thermal conductivity values of Brick 2 decreased to
0.610 W/(m k). The thermal conductivity value of Brick 3 was mea-
sured to be 0.533 W/(m k), decreased by 14% by the addition of
sewage sludge. This result demonstrates that the brick samples
produced with sewage sludge addition might show good heat insu-
lation performance.

3.1.4. Compressive strength

There is no doubt that the compressive strength is the most
important property of construction materials. As shown in Table 3,
the compressive strength of Brick 1 was measured to be 33.1 MPa.
With up to 10% cinder added to the brick, the strength of Brick 2
was decreased to 25.4 MPa, a 23% drop. The compressive strength
of Brick 3, 20.5 MPa, is 38% lower compared to Brick 1. The main
reason is that sludge suffers great weight loss during sintering
compared to lake sediment and cinder. So, the addition of sludge
to bricks should be strictly controlled. However, the strength of Fig. 4. Freeze-thaw resistance of fired brick samples.
158 Y.M. Zhang et al. / Construction and Building Materials 121 (2016) 154–160

3.3. Porosity and pore size distribution

Porosity and pore size distribution are key factors affecting

durability and heat insulation performance of the bricks [38,39].
High porosity and smaller pores were found to be responsible for
a reduction in the thermal conductivity of the fired bricks. But at
the same time, the increase of porosity resulted in a reduction of
the freeze-thaw resistance of sintered products [40,41]. The
freeze-thaw resistance of bricks is also closely correlated with pore
size distribution. Under the harsh environment, sintered bricks
having more pores smaller than 2 lm damaged more easily. Mal-
lidi [42] reported that the average pore size larger than 2.4 lm in
sintered products can withstand more than 70 times of freeze-
thaw cycles without apparent damage.
The results of porosity and pore size distribution of the bricks,
measured by mercury intrusion porosimetry (MIP), are given in
Fig. 5. XRD patterns of the bricks. Table 4 and Fig. 7. The porosity of Brick 1 was much lower than
that of Brick 2 and 3, and the value of the latter two was very close.
The porosity of pores larger than 2 lm in Brick 1 is as low as 5.79%.
With the addition of 10% cinder, the porosity of Brick 2 with diam-
Fig. 6 presents the SEM micrographs of fracture surfaces of fired
eter >2 lm decreased while the porosity with diameter <2 lm
brick samples. Abundant glassy phases with continuous solid
increased. The Brick 2 with more fine pores would face greater
structure are observed in Brick 1, as shown in Fig. 6(a). Fig. 6(b)
internal pressure during the freezing and thawing cycles, which
shows that with the addition of 10% cinder as ridge material in
subsequently led to lower freeze-thaw resistance due to severe
Brick 2, many particles with loose structure are distributed on
deterioration. Compared to Brick 2, Brick 3 had a slightly lower
the surface of the glassy phase, adversely affecting the compressive
total porosity for the reason that the sludge which had a certain
strength of bricks. Fig. 6(c) shows more pores on the scale of
calorific value promoted the sintering of particles around sludge,
micrometer in Brick 3, likely due to the local burning of organic
though the burning process of organic materials may result in
matter in sludge.
higher porosity.

Fig. 6. SEM micrographs of fired bricks: 100% lake silt (a); 90% lake silt + 10% cinder (b); 85% lake silt + 10% cinder + 5% sewage sludge (c).
 Y.M. Zhang et al. / Construction and Building Materials 121 (2016) 154–160 159

Table 4 The influence of sewage sludge on the properties of bricks is

Porosity of fired brick samples. complicated. The rough surface of the brick caused by the burning
Brick Porosity/% of large sewage sludge particles decreased its compressive
d > 2 lm d < 2 lm Total Porosity strength, but smaller amount of micro pores in the microstructure
resulted in an increase in the freeze-thaw resistance when com-
1 5.79 25.21 31.00
2 2.27 35.16 37.43
pared with the brick with lake sediment and cinder as raw
3 0.02 35.58 35.60 materials.

Acknowledgement

The financial support and experimental assistance provided by

Wuxi Guolian Environment & Energy Group Co., Ltd are gratefully
appreciated.

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