Effects of using tea waste as an additive in the production of solid bricks in terms of their porosity, thermal conductivity, strength and durability
Metadata
Show full item recordEditorial
Elsevier
Materia
Bricks Tea waste Recycling
Date
2024-02-10Referencia bibliográfica
Crespo-López, Laura, et al. Effects of using tea waste as an additive in the production of solid bricks in terms of their porosity, thermal conductivity, strength and durability. Sustainable Materials and Technologies 39 (2024) e00859 [10.1016/j.susmat.2024.e00859]
Sponsorship
Junta de Andalucía Research Group RNM179; Ministry of Science and Innovation under research projects PID2020-119838RA-I00 and B-RNM-188-UGR20 of the Regional Ministry of University, Research and Innovation of the Junta de Andalucía and FEDER, a way of making Europe; Funding for open access charge: Universidad de Granada / CBUAAbstract
In this paper, we investigated the use of tea waste as an additive in the production of traditional bricks. This
could provide several environmental and economic benefits, as well as improving thermal insulation in construction.
To this end, we produced brick samples with 0,5 and 10 w% of tea waste mixed with a clayey material
from Teruel (Spain) that was rich in quartz and phyllosilicates and had smaller amounts of carbonates. These
samples were fired at 800, 950 and 1100 ºC in an electric oven. We then analysed and discussed their chemical,
mineralogical, textural and physical-mechanical behaviour and evaluated their durability in response to salt
crystallization. The pore system of the bricks was examined using a combination of different analytical techniques
(hydric tests, mercury intrusion porosimetry and digital image analysis). We also evaluated their thermal
conductivity and observed that an increase in the firing temperature and the amount of tea waste altered the
texture of the bricks, increasing their porosity. This happened above all at 1100 ºC, where it led to the
appearance of a new family of pores and increased the porosity to about 39% for bricks made with 10 w% added
tea waste. The increased porosity made the bricks lighter. The bricks made with tea waste showed higher levels
of water absorption and poorer mechanical strength. Our results suggest that the addition of tea residues strongly
decreases the thermal conductivity and heat diffusion capacity of the bricks. They could therefore be used as
lightweight bricks for the thermal insulation of buildings.