Viability of Morisca Powder Tailings for Ceramic Applications

Abstract

In Juazeiro de Piauí and Castelo do Piauí, two cities in northeast Brazil, mined morisca rock is widely used in civil construction for external coating applications. Aiming at a sustainable practice for its extraction, which includes the economical use of the tailings from its mining, this work presents a solution for the use of discarded materials from processing morisca from Piauí. In this context, an analysis of the results of using morisca as a substitute for clay materials for applications in red ceramics are presented. For the analyses, XRF, XRD, microgranulometry, limits of consistency, TG, DTG, and a set of technological tests inherent to ceramic materials were used. It was concluded that morisca powder is viable as a clay substitute for red ceramic applications.