Glazed tiles manufactured from incinerated sewage sludge ash and clay

Sewage sludge incineration is applied extensively in highly populated cities as a final sludge treatment. In this study, incinerated ash was utilized as an additive to clay to manufacture glaze tiles. Four different amounts of ash (0, 15, 30, and 45%) were added, and five glaze concentrations (0.03, 0.06, 0.1, 0.15, and 0.2 g/cm2) were applied on the surface of biscuit tiles to study the effects of ash additive and glaze concentration on properties of fired samples. Sewage sludge was dehydrated and incinerated into ash at 800 degrees C. Subsequently, tile specimens were manufactured and fired at 800 degrees C to make biscuit tiles. Fritted glazes and iron oxide were used as the fundamental glaze and colorant, respectively. Finally, glaze was applied on the surface of biscuit tiles and then fired at 1050 degrees C to sinter them into glazed tile specimens. Tests were performed to analyze properties, including water absorption, firing shrinkage, weight loss on ignition, abrasion resistance, bending resistance, acid-alkali resistance, and aging resistance on specimens of glaze tile. To further understand more about the microstructural behavior of glazed tile specimens, analysis of energy dispersive spectrometer, scanning electron microscopy, and X-ray were carried out in this study.