Department of Civil Engineering

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Author: search.filters.author.Routroy, SrikantaSubject: search.filters.subject.Civil Engineering

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    Fired clay bricks synergistically valorizing hazardous nickel chrome-plating sludge and fly ash: Performance assessment
    (Elsevier, 2024-04) Singhal, Anupam; Routroy, Srikanta; Bhunia, Dipendu; Lahoti, Mukund
    Nickel Chrome Plating Sludge (NCPS) is a hazardous waste containing 25%-30% nickel and chromium. Previous attempts to immobilize NCPS into fired clay bricks resulted in weakened strength due to porosity and microstructure deterioration. This study introduces co-valorization of NCPS and fly ash in fired clay bricks to address these issues. Factory-scale firing of green bricks, alongside conventional clay bricks, assessed the commercialization potential. The optimal proportion of NCPS, fly ash, and clay was found to be as 12.5:37.5:50.0, respectively. Fly ash addition significantly improved brick properties, causing compressive strength to increase from 3.2 MPa to 11.6 MPa for a NCPS content of 12.5%. Microstructural analysis highlighted fluxing oxides in NCPS, amorphous silica-alumina in fly ash, synergistic ceramic bond formation, enhanced sintering and pore filling during vitrification. The study also demonstrated substantial fuel savings of 40%-50% due to NCPS's high heat of combustion causing internal firing of green bricks. The developed bricks exhibited almost double linear attenuation coefficients, indicating enhanced gamma radiation shielding. Leaching tests confirmed successful heavy metal immobilization. This co-valorization approach not only overcomes previous drawbacks but also offers significant environmental and economic benefits in utilizing NCPS in brick production.
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    Kiln-fired clay bricks synergizing nickel–chromium plating sludge and fly ash: mechanical characteristics and cradle-to-gate life cycle assessment
    (Springer, 2022-09) Bhunia, Dipendu; Routroy, Srikanta; Singhal, Anupam; Lahoti, Mukund
    Life cycle assessment (LCA) of novel fired clay bricks with synergistic co-valorization of nickel-chrome plating sludge (NCPS) and fly ash (FA) is reported. 0%, 20%, and 37.5% FA was added to improve sludge-deteriorated mechanical properties. Sludge bricks (SBs) exhibited compressive strength of 11.03 MPa, 17% water absorption, nil efflorescence, and permissible heavy metals’ leaching, complying with standards as first-class bricks. LCA was performed with the ReCiPe-2016 method, utilizing the primary experimental data, government reports, and the Ecoinvent v3.8 database. LCA analysis revealed that compared to clay bricks, SBs caused 30%, 43%, and 51% lesser harm to ecosystem quality, human health, and resource categories in the endpoint assessment. Kiln emissions, coal, clay, and transportation were chief contributors, but their cumulative endpoint impacts significantly reduced (38%, 52%, 55%, and 45%) on switching to the SBs. Terrestrial acidification, global warming, photochemical oxidant formation, and particulate matter emissions significantly affected midpoint categories. However, their impacts got reduced by 52–57% with SBs. With global annual clay brick production exceeding 1.5 trillion, agricultural soil mining causes irreversible depletion of nitrogen, phosphorous, potassium, and organic carbon in the soil. SBs utilize only 50% clay, adding substantially to environmental savings. Successful NCPS immobilization in bricks prevents leaching hazards and avoids scientific landfill construction. With a calorific value of 945 kcal/kg, NCPS acts as internal fuel during firing, reducing the external coal requirement. This work establishes the techno-environmental feasibility of recycling NCPS and producing better-performing bricks with lower environmental impacts.