Review On The Usage of Ceramic Wastes in Concrete Production
Review On The Usage of Ceramic Wastes in Concrete Production
Review On The Usage of Ceramic Wastes in Concrete Production
PRODUCTION
ABSTRACT
A high amount of tile production is occurring in India as well as other countries due to its high
demand and versatile use for various aesthetic appearances. This high demand also
contributes the increase in wastage of tiles, but today the only option available for disposal
of ceramic waste is landfill. We cannot able to use it for other purposes due to lack of
knowledge, experience and fear of risk. Earlier researches and experimental studies show
that these ceramic tiles have pozzolonic properties, resistant to aggressive chemicals as well
as high strength. Therefore many sustainable options are available for ceramic waste rather
than conventional landfilling. However, the research on ceramic wastes as partial substitute
for fine aggregates or cement has not been overly exploited as the other areas. This review
has been concluded with focus on investigating whether ceramic wall tile wastes used as
partial substitute for cement and fine aggregates could prove to be beneficial since the two
I. INTRODUCTION
While thinking an image of our mother earth; image of pure, clean and green earth doesn’t
come always in our mind. This fact is due to overexploitation of resources, pollution and non–
aggregates, water and admixtures which vary according to the proportion and environmental
conditions. Day by day rapid growth in construction area results in humongous need of
concrete and thus it also contributes towards the most critical problem of earth that is waste.
Waste comes from Construction and demolition contributes the highest percentage of waste
in worldwide. Adding to it, the highest percentage of wastes within this construction and
demolition waste is due to ceramic products (A. Juan et al, 2010 [4]).
A. Ceramic Industry
The term ceramics is a general term used to refer to ceramic products. Common
manufactured ceramics include wall tiles, floor tiles, sanitary ware, household ceramics and
technical ceramics. In essence, ceramic is a term used to describe inorganic materials (with
possibly some organic content), made up of non-metallic compounds and made permanent
by a firing process. Clay, which is the most abundant material in the making of most ceramics,
is naturally not a pozzolanic material. This is because it does not have silicate properties,
which can react with water to form calcium hydroxide in the production of concrete.
Research conducted by on the possibility of waste clay materials being used as pozzolanic
additions indicated that the activation of clay to become pozzolanic begins during
dehydration process, which initiates when heating clay from around 500ºC, and the
separation of amorphous and very active aluminum oxide. The temperature required to reach
maximum concentrations of the aluminum oxide depends on the type of minerals in the clay.
During the making of ceramics, clay is heated at relatively high temperatures, the exact
temperature depending on the type of ceramic being produced. For instance, the study at
hand focuses on ceramic wall tile wastes, which are reject tiles, which went through the full
firing process. The ceramic wall tiles are fired at around 1150ºC. Deducting from that, it is
logical to say wastes from the ceramic industry (ceramic waste) possess characteristics
suitable for use as pozzolanic materials and thus are suitable for use in the making of
concrete.
B. Classification
Ceramic wastes are classified as non-recyclable wastes in India, except for the normal use as
filling material. Based on research regarding recyclable Construction and Demolition (C&D)
wastes, ceramic wastes have the potential to be used in concrete production. However, there
are no guidelines and standards to the usage of these wastes in concrete. In addition, the
local construction industry does not have knowledge and experience to utilize the material.
Ceramic wastes can be separated in two categories in accordance with the source of raw
materials. The first one are all fired wastes generated by the structural ceramic factories that
use only red pastes to manufacture their products, such as brick, blocks and roof tiles. The
second one is all fired waste produced in stoneware ceramic such as wall, floor tiles and
sanitary ware. These producers use red and white pastes; nevertheless, the usage of white
paste is more frequent and much higher in volume. In each category the fired ceramic waste
was classified according to the production process. This classification is reported in the
There has been some research worldwide regarding the possibility of using ceramic waste in
roofing waste. Reference [10] substituted various weight ratios by percentage (25% up to
40%) of Portland cement by the waste tile, and optimized 25% up to 35% weight ratio
substitution. Their main interest was on: (i) pozzolanic properties of waste tile, (ii) setting
time, (iii) particle size, (iv) specific surface area, (v) volume stability, (vi) density, and (vii)
strength of cement. Their findings indicated that waste roofing tiles have pozzolanic
properties, while also showing chemical and physical properties similar to cement, thus
conforming to cement standard. Reference [12] was more interested in the mineralogical
X-ray tests (diffractometric and spectroscopic techniques). Their findings indicated that waste
tiles have pozzolanic properties, and the compressive strength of the blend cement (up to
30% ratio by weight) produced developed similar to the compressive strength of Portland
cement.
Reference [13] conducted extensive research on ceramic waste usage. Their focus was
investigating the possibility of utilizing general ceramic rubble (mostly clay bricks and tiles) as
particularly, the morphology of the blended cement. They not only checked on the pozzolanic
properties of the ceramic wastes, but also compared their results with those of other known
cement additives such as fly ash and silica fume. They discovered that temperatures used to
produce ceramic material (which is about 900oC for ceramic bricks, and higher on most tiles)
is sufficient to activate clay minerals, and ultimately provide the rejects with pozzolanic
properties. They also discovered that there are no morphological differences between
cement pastes made with clay tile and those made with other pozzolanic materials.
References [14]-[17] researched and confirmed the possibility of usage of general recycled
obtained positive results, with increase in abrasion resistance and tensile strength, suitable
Reference [18] conducted research on viability of using waste from clay blocks as partial
substitution of cement in the production of mortars. Their research revealed that partial
substitution improved the mechanical properties and durability of the mortar. On the other
hand, research was conducted on using wastes in the form of ceramic bricks and mortar, and
recycled concrete and a mixture of the two as partial substitution for coarse aggregates [19].
It was discovered that the use of ceramic aggregates resulted in satisfactory durability.
However, the ceramic bricks aggregates proved to be having high water absorption, the
modified concrete mix thereof, proved to be satisfactory. In addition, negative results were
obtained when totally substituting the fraction of 4.32mm of natural aggregates with ceramic
aggregates [19].
Waste materials such as tyres, rice husk ash, glass, and other wastes have also been
or total substitute for aggregates or cement in concrete, and in some instances, to provide
One research noteworthy mentioning was whereby polymeric wastes were used in concrete
as a beneficial filler material for use in maintaining hydraulic dams used in power generation.
Three waste materials were chosen: (i) Agglutinated low-density polyethylene (LDPE – from
the production of garbage and plastic bags), (ii) crushed polyethylene terephthalate (PET –
from liquid deodorant flasks), (iii) and used rubber tires. After initial trials, these were
optimized to 2.5% of the control concrete. All three produced positive results when compared
to the control concrete, with the LDPE producing the best results.
Thus the research not only focused on reusing waste for environmental sustenance, but also
to reduce the cost of structure while improving the quality of concrete [8]. characteristics to
the concrete.
Recently other materials such as construction and demolition wastes (C&D wastes), organic
wastes (e.g. rice husk) have been introduced in the making of concrete, for both reasons of
wastes are not in common use in the making of concrete. Ceramic wastes have potential to
be incorporated in concrete due to their pozzolanic properties. They are also known for
resistance to abrasion, and lower density, properties, which actually can be expected to
CONCLUSION
generations. Thus recycling wastes is only rational and logical step towards conservation of
natural resources. The economic aspect of recycling is motivation to proceed in this direction.
From the researches discussed, it is clear that ceramic wastes are suitable to be used in the
construction industry, and more significantly on the making of concrete. Ceramic wastes are
found to be suitable for usage as substitution for fine and coarse aggregates and partial
substitution in cement production. Researchers have indicated their potential for usage in
both structural and non-structural concrete and even for mortars. They were found to be
permeability and compressive strength. Thus to continue with further research in this area is
necessary to make available the information, which will inevitably come handy in the near
future.