New ALTERNATIVE WALLING MATERIAL.

1. INTRODUCTION
About 80 million tones of fly ash is being produced and thrown out as a waste, from about 60 Thermal Power stations functioning in our country. This fine material not only creates pollution but also poses serious disposal problem. One of the best ways of utilizing this hazardous pollutant is to convert it into a building material like brick. Brick is considered to be the most common walling material, used by the man from pre-Vedic period. The conventional burnt clay brick has been causing severe depletion of fertile land, directly affecting the countrys green revolution campaign. Production of fly ash sand

lime bricks can, to a certain extent, help to solve the above mentioned problems.

2. MATERIALS
Fly ash is a siliceous material with association of amorphous/Glassy mass. The constituent particles of fly ash react with lime at elevated temperature and pressure of steam to form calcium silicate hydrate and calcium aluminates hydrate. The nature and extent of formation of calcium silicate hydrate depends upon many factors like physics-chemical and mineralogical characteristics of raw materials, molar ratio of calcium oxide and silica, and proportioning and curing conditions. In the present study, three fly ash samples containing un Different mixes

burnt carbon 0.5, 4.3, 7.9 percent have been taken.

having Fly ash, sand and lime in 70: 20: 10, 60: 30: 10, 50: 40: 10 by weight were prepared for producing Bricks. TABLE 1 Raw materials Requirement (a) Fly Ash (b) Sand (c) Lime (d) Ordinary Portland cement (e) Gypsum Accelerator CBRI 50-60% 30-40% 8-10% -0.5-2.0% NIL

3. PROCESS DETAILS
The CBRI has developed four technological options to produce fly ash sand lime bricks are as under: i) Shaping of bricks at high pressure and steam curing at high pressure known as Autoclaved Fly ash sand lime bricks. ii) Shaping of bricks at high pressure and steam curing at atmospheric pressure. iii) iv) Shaping by vibro-compaction and steam curing at high pressure. Shaping by vibro-compaction and steam curing at atmospheric pressure called C Bricks.

Option No.1:Shaping of bricks at high pressure and steam curing at high pressure. This option involves four major operations namely proportioning of raw materials using screw feeds or box feeder, dry and wet mixing by means of pair of double shaft mixer, shaping by suitable press, enabling to impart a pressure of 200-240 Kg/Cm 2 and steam curing at 10 14 Kg/cm 2 in autoclaves.

1. 2. 3. 4. 5.

Proportioning Unit Bucket Elevator Double Shaft Mixer Water Spraying Double Shaft Mixer

6. Belt Conveyor 7. Hydraulic Press 8. Off- Take Belt Conveyor 9. Trolley with Bricks 10. Autoclave

SCHEMATIC DIAGRAM FOR PRODUCTION OF BRICKS BY HIGH PRESSURE SHAPING AND HIGH PRESSURE STEAM CURING

VARIATION OF COMPRESSIVE STRENGTH WITH LOSS ON IGNITION

Inference: This option has a potential handle a fly ash with unburnt carbon as high as 8% to produce bricks of compressive strength more than 100 Kg/Cm 2 . In other words with this option even pond ash can directly be used for brick production.

Brief Project Profile : Capacity of plant Total capital investment : 40,000 bricks per day in 3 shifts : Rs. 350 lacks.

Cost of Purchased Equipment : Rs 200 lacks. Man power requirement Land Required Installed power Estimated cost of Production : 100 persons. : 0.6 Hectares : 300 KW : Rs 1400 per 1000 bricks.

Option No 2: Shaping of bricks at high pressure and steam curing at atmospheric pressure In this option proportioning and shaping operations are done exactly as in option no.(1). The steam curing of green bricks is done in ordinary chambers at 1 Kg/Cm 2 pressure instead of autoclaves.

Inference: This option has a potential to handle a fly ash having unburnt carbon upto 5% to produce bricks of compressive strength more than 80 Kg/Cm 2 .

Brief Project Profile. Capacity of Plant Total capital investment : 40,000 bricks per day in shifts. : Rs.300 lacs.

Cost of purchased equipment : Rs. 130 lacs. Manpower Requirement Land Requirement Installed Power : 100 persons. : 0.6 Hecters. : 300 K W.

1. 2. 3. 4. 5.

Proportioning Unit Bucket Elevator Double Shaft Mixer Water Spraying Double Shaft Mixer

6. Belt Conveyor 7. Hydraulic Press 8. Off- Take Belt Conveyor 9. Trolley with Bricks 10. Steam curing chamber

SCHEMATIC DIAGRAM FOR PRODUCTION OF BRICKS BY HIGH PRESSURE SHAPING AND ATMOSPHERIC PRESSURE STEAM CURING

VARIATION OF COMPRESSIVE STRENGHT WITH LOSS ON IGNITION

Option No 3:-Shaping by Vibro-compaction and steam curing at high pressure. Under this option, mixing of raw materials is done in a pan mixer and shaping is done in a vibro-compaction machine which produces a low moulding pressure. The green bricks are dried before subjecting to steam curing at high pressure in autoclaves. Inference The fly ash having higher unburnt carbon can be used for producing bricks of adequate strength by adopting this option i.e. vibro-compaction moulding and high pressure steam curing.

Brief Project profile : Capacity of Plant Total capital investment : 3000 bricks per shift. : Rs. 8 lacs.

Cost of purchased equipment : Rs. 6 lacs. Man Power Requirement Land requirement Installed power Estimated cost of production : 14 persons. : 800 Sq. metres. : 10 KW. : Rs.1100/- per 1000 bricks.

1. 2. 3. 4.

Flyash Sand Lime Pan Mill

5. Shaping Machine 6. Autoclave 7. Ready Bricks

SCHEMATIC DIAGRAM FOR PRODUCTION OF BRICKS BY VIBROCOMPACTION SHAPING AND HIGH PRESSURE STEAM CURING

VARIATION OF COMPRESSIVE STRENGTH WITH LOSS ON IGNITION

Option No 4 Shaping by vibro-compaction and steam curing at atmospheric pressure. Under this option, proportioning, mixing and shaping operations are done exactly as in option No 3 excepts for the steam curing of green bricks at 1 Kg/Cm 2 in ordinary chambers. It is worth while to mention here that if cement is added as binder in this option wet curing of 28 days can replace the steam curing. Inference : In this option, fly ash with higher percentage of unburnt producing good quality of bricks.

carbon is not found to be suitable for

Therefore, it is necessary to go in for a fly ash with lower percentage of unburnt carbon, obviously hopper ash can directly be used. With such fly ash being light in colour, use of an appropriate pigment can also be made to produce red/chocolate coloured bricks. Brief Project Profiles: Capacity of plant Total capital investment : 3000 bricks per shift. : Rs. 3 lacks.

Cost of purchased equipment : Rs.1.25 lacks. Manpower Installed power Estimated cost of production : 10 persons. : 10 KW : Rs. 1000/- per 1000 bricks.

1. Fly ash
2. Sand 3. Lime 4. Pan Mill

5. Shaping Machine 6. Chamber 7. Ready Bricks

SCHIMATIC DIAGRAM FOR PRODUCTION OF BRICKS BY VIBROCPOMECTION SHAPING AND ATMOSPHERIC PRESSURE STEAM

VARIATION OF COMPRESSIVE STRENGTH WITH LOSS ON IGNITION

4.

PROPERTIES

A) ENGINEERING PROPERTIES : i) Shrinkage : Depending on the characteristics properties of raw materials and the process adopted for production, these bricks show a drying shrinkage of the order of 0.02 to 0.04 %. ii) Absorption Properties : The saturation coefficient tends to one, indicating openness in the pore structure. This facilitated easier evaporation of the water absorbed by the external face in wet season. The initial rate of absorption ranges between25 to 35,

which is comparable to conventional bricks thus imparting similar bonding characteristics. iii) Prism strength : Masonry prisms with different mortars and having a height to base ratio of 2 were tested in compression to assess masonry strength. Observed prism strengths with 1: 1: 6, 1:1:9 (cement: Lime : Sand ) and 1:6 (Cements : Sand) mortars were between 0.40 to 0.43 to the unit strength. This value is certainly better than that of conventional bricks, which ranges between 0.3to 0.35.

B) PHYSICAL PROPERTIES : i) Compressive strength (Wet comp. Strength) ii) Water absorption iii) Durability iv) Efflorescence v) Bulk Density 40 80 Kg/Cm 2 15 20 % Good Free from Efflorescence. 1400 1600 Kg/Cm 2 Uniform Smooth

vi) Shape vii) Finish

5.

ADVANTAGES

In presence of moisture, fly ash reacts with lime at ordinary temperature and forms a compound possessing cementations properties. After reactions between lime and fly ash, calcium silicate hydrates are produced which are responsible for the high strength of the compound. Bricks made by mixing lime and fly ash are, therefore,

chemically bonded bricks. These bricks are suitable for use in masonry just like common burnt clay bricks. advantages over the clay bricks. 1) Possess crushing strength more than that of good quality clay bricks and can therefore be used as a load bearing member. 2) Have cement colour in appearance, are uniform in shape and smooth in finish and require no plastering for building work. 3) Are lighter in weight than ordinary clay bricks. Are less porous than the ordinary clay bricks. 4) Have more Durability than the ordinary clay bricks. These bricks have the following

6. CONCLUSION

Good quality building bricks can be produced from fly ash by adopting an appropriate technology from the four technological options described above. One can pick up the best suitable option in the given set of conditions governed by characteristic properties of available raw materials, desired Engineering properties of the end product and financial investments.