A Study on the Properties and Leachability of Fired Clay Bricks Incorporating With Gypsum Waste

Authors

  • Nurul Nabila Huda Hashar
  • Aeslina Abdul Kadir
  • Shahin Ishamuddin
  • Nur Jannah Abdul Hamid
  • Azini Amiza Hashim
  • Noor Amira Sarani
  • Mohd Ikhmal Haqeem Hassan

Abstract

The industrial waste could be generated from the manufacturing or industrial processes that use chemicals or manufactured chemicals, in consequence, produce a serious hazard to the environment. In this research, gypsum is an industrial waste generated from the wastewater treatment process in the chemical industry. More than 50,000 tons of gypsum waste has been produced in Johor per months. The average concentration of heavy metals in gypsum waste was relatively low but since the production of gypsum waste is large, the total amount of heavy metals in gypsum waste could be large too. Due to that, it could become a potential threat to the environment when it was disposed of randomly in landfills. Thus, an alternative to recycle and dispose of the gypsum waste should be investigated. Therefore, this research was conducted by incorporating a different percentage of gypsum waste (0%, 10%, 20%, 30%, 40% and 50%) into fired clay brick (FCB). The performance of gypsum brick (GB) was determined by conducting physical and mechanical testing such as water absorption, dry density and compressive strength. Besides, the leaching test which is the Toxicity Characteristic Leaching Procedure (TCLP) was also conducted in order to determine the concentration of heavy metals in GB. The results showed that the water absorption value of GB increased by increasing the percentage of gypsum waste in bricks whilst the value of dry density and compressive strength decreased when the addition of gypsum waste in the bricks increased. The leachability results from TCLP indicated that all concentrations for thirteen (13) heavy metals complied with the standard from the United States Environmental Protection Agency (USEPA, 1996). Although the addition of gypsum waste was decreased in some properties, the incorporation of gypsum wastes up to 20% have complied with the brick’s requirements British Standard (BS 3921:1985).

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Published

2020-02-05

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Articles