Production of Lime-stabilized Thermal Insulation Bricks Using Aluminum Mine Tailing
- Vol.102(1), March
- New York Springer 2021
- 249-258p.
Major coproduction of solid waste from the primary aluminum plant is fly ash and red mud. This work reports the preparation of unfired thermal insulation bricks by blending various waste content with gypsum. The effects of red mud-fly ash ratio, curing medium, and curing duration on produced bricks’ physicochemical properties have been studied in this work. The results showed that the bricks made by optimum mix (45% red mud, 40% fly ash, 10% lime, and 5% gypsum) possess maximum strength independent of temperature and medium of curing. The ultimate strength (6.30 MPa) was observed in a red mud-fly ash ratio of 45:40 for 28 days of water cured samples with thermal conductivity 6.2 W/mK. Steam curing at 80 °C can decrease the curing time to 24 h to achieve 4.41 MPa strength. These bricks could be used for construction work where the strength requirement is moderate, but the thermal insulation is high.