Incinerated municipal solid waste bottom ash bricks: A sustainable and cost-efficient building material

Incineration of Municipal solid waste leads to the generation of bottom ash and fly ash. The applications of fly ash are many, but the bottom ash is usually being disposed of directly to the landfills. The study seeks the application of municipal solid waste incinerated bottom ash in the manufacturing of bricks. Since bottom, ash has a high amount of silica, but due to high porosity and less unit weight compared to clay, the direct use of bottom ash is not feasible for brick production. Cement stabilizes the inorganic compounds present in ash and provides the required compressive strength. A series of compressive strength, efflorescence, pH, water absorption, and Ultrasonic pulse velocity tests were performed on eight different mix proportions. OPC 43 grade cement was used to replace 6, 8, 10, 12, 14, 16, 18 and 20% of incinerated bottom ash content by mass. These lightweight bricks fulfill the criteria of minimum water absorption even with 6% cement content, minimum compressive strength, and brick with 20% cement lie under the second-class brick, and the efflorescence for all bricks was under the required limits. The pH value varied from 11.44 at 6% cement content to 12.19 at 20% cement content, and the maximum value of ultrasonic pulse velocity obtained at 20% cement content was 2.74 km/s. A final cost analysis of these bricks was done with the conventional ones, which confirms that these bricks are equally efficient for the construction industry. The applications of these bricks were less but not limited to a specific use. (c) 2021 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved. Selection and Peer-review under responsibility of the scientific committee of the Global Conference on Recent Advances in Sustainable Materials 2021.