UTILISATION OF WATER INDUSTRY WASTES IN CERAMIC PRODUCTS

Public supply drinking water requires pre-treatment at purification plants (waterworks) in order to bring it up to exacting quality standards. Water received at treatment plants passes though various stages of purification and the by-product of these stages, referred to as waterworks sludge, contains solids, organic matter as well as chemicals added for flocculation and water purification. Recent research efforts have shown that such residues have similar chemical and mineralogical compositions to the raw materials used in the ceramics industry. The introduction of such sludges into a range of related commercial structural products (bricks, roofing tiles) has a very good potential. Thus the objective was the characterisation of the nature and properties of Greek waterworks sludge and the investigation of its recyclability in building bricks. The influence of the sludge addition on the physical and mechanical properties of the final products was studied to determine the optimum addition levels. 1 ref.