Analysing the Effectiveness of Municipal Wastewater Sludge, Bagasse Ash, Rice Husk Ash and Plastic Waste Powder for Manufacturing Bricks

Abstract

Indian cities’ rapid industrialisation and urbanisation have created a requirement for massive infrastructure growth. As a result, numerous homes have been built on a big scale. As one of the most important building materials, bricks must be produced in large quantities using resources including in-situ clay, energy, and water. The concern about the sustainability of expansion is raised by the rapid exploitation of such resources, which also leads to environmental imbalance. Numerous thousands of tonnes of waste are produced as a result of the rapid growth, which creates problems with not only disposing off the waste but also with the availability of landfill spaces in urban areas. This project aims to conduct an experimental analysis of the potential use of bagasse ash, rice husk ash, plastic waste powder, and municipal wastewater sludge as clay substitutes in brickmaking. Testing the efficacy of these materials revealed that the bagasse ash brick with plastic waste powder demonstrated a significant increase in compressive strength and less water absorption when compared to a conventional brick. According to the test results, the average compressive strength of the bagasse ash brick created using plastic waste powder is 9.81 N/mm2 and 9.03 N/mm2, respectively, which is higher than the standard necessary construction brick according to our Indian requirements. These bricks can be utilised as first- and second-class bricks. These bricks can be used in both load-bearing and non-load-bearing structures because the average water absorption, according to specifications, was not more than 20%. This process for producing building materials encourages the use of waste resources in construction.