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CERAMIC TILE WASTE AS A WASTE MANAGEMENT SOLUTION FOR

CONCRETE

Conference Paper · January 2012

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CERAMIC TILE WASTE AS A WASTE
MANAGEMENT SOLUTION FOR
CONCRETE
Y.TABAK*, M.KARA*, E.GÜNAY*, S.T.YILDIRIM** AND Ş.YILMAZº

* TÜBİTAK, TUBITAK MRC, Materials Institute, Gebze, Kocaeli, Turkey

** Kocaeli University Civil Engineering Department, Kocaeli, Turkey
º Sakarya University Metallurgy and Material Engineering Department, Sakarya,
Turkey

SUMMARY: An environmentally friendly approach to the disposal of waste materials, a

difficult issue to cope with in today’s world, would only be possible through a useful recycling
process. Floor tile waste aggregates (FTWA) in concrete applications can substantially reduce
the negative environmental effects and exhaustion of the natural resources. In order to reuse and
so to reduce the volume of the ceramic waste which occurs during the production of ceramic, it
is possible to use as aggregates in the production of concrete. In this study, the mechanical and
physical properties of concrete produced from floor tile waste aggregates were investigated.
C30/37 quality concrete was produced by using two different floor tile waste. The properties of
these concretes were compared to produced reference concrete. These results of the tests show
that the concrete produced from floor tile waste has some more better physical and mechanical
characteristics than conventional concrete, thus a new application area to selective recycling of
ceramic floor tile waste and its use in the production of concrete.

1. INTRODUCTION

Ceramic tiles are important construction materials used in almost all buildings. The production
of these tiles normally starts from raw material, grinding and mixing, granulating by spray
drying, pressing, firing and/or polishing and glazing. Waste mud, which is the sediment of
washed down particles from these manufacturing processes is approximately 2 wt% of the final
products. This mud which contains both coarse particles (feldspar, quartz, and ground fired tiles)
and fine particles (clay minerals such as kaolinite and mica) is far too impure to be re-used in tile
production, so it is normally disposed of as waste in landfills. Elimination of this waste mud has
become more and more problematic due to the huge amount of this waste produced each year
and the increasing cost of disposal. One way forward to solve this problem is by utilizing this
waste for other purposes (D. Wattanasiriwech et al, 2009).
Ceramic wastes are produced as a result of the ceramic processing. These wastes cause soil,
air and groundwater pollution. The pollutant of ceramic industry which are mud and tile are
coming from the ceramic plant’s refinery systems are stored in the waste disposal site of the
plant.
There is a high concentration of Zn in the refinery mud coming from the unit of glaze plant. Tile
waste does not pollute the environment. There are number of hazardous wastes used in
stabilization/solidification (S/S) technique. These techniques are used in the industry for
different types of wastes materials. Stabilization is the process of modifying the mechanical,
chemical and hydraulic properties of a waste residue to produce a more environmentally safe,
economical, and low maintenance waste disposal sites (H.Koyuncu et al, 2004)
The amount of tile waste on earth is enough for use as an aggregate in concrete. Tile is
produced from natural materials sintered at high temperatures. There are no harmful chemicals in
tile. Waste tiles cause only the apparition of pollution. However some parts of tiles are used in
cotto as flooring and also flooring in tennis courts, walkways, cycling paths and gardens as a
ground material. Therefore waste tiles are stored in factory fields because of their economical
value. Nevertheless, each year approximately 250,000 tons of tiles are worn out, while 100
million tiles are used for repairs. These waste materials can be recycled to save money
(İ.B.Topçu and M. Canbaz, 2007).
Ceramic waste can be transformed into useful coarse aggregate. The properties of ceramic
waste coarse aggregate are well within the range of the values of concrete making aggregates.
The properties of ceramic waste coarse aggregate concrete are not significantly different from
those of conventional concrete. The use of ceramic waste coarse aggregate concrete has
increased because it has various advantages over other cementitious materials (H.Binici, 2007).
It has been estimated that about 30% of the daily production in the ceramic industry goes to
waste. This waste is not recycled in any form at present. However, the ceramic waste is durable,
hard and highly resistant to biological, chemical and physical degradation forces. As the ceramic
waste is piling up every day, there is pressure on the ceramic industries to find a solution for its
disposal. Meanwhile, conventional crushed stone aggregate reserves are depleting fast,
particularly in some desert regions of the world. Use of inorganic industrial residual products in
making concrete will lead to sustainable concrete design and greener environment (RM.
Senthamarai and P. D. Manoharan, 2005)
The aim of this paper is the assessment of the properties of concrete which use ceramic tile
waste as natural coarse aggregate partial substitute. To achieve this, fresh and hardened state
properties of concrete are measured to ensure that fundamental parameters needed in design are
evaluated.

2. CERAMIC WASTES
Ceramic wastes can be separated in two categories in accordance with the source of raw
materials. The first one are all fired wastes generated by the structural ceramic factories that use
only red pastes to manufacture their products, such as brick, blocks and roof tiles. The second
one is all fired waste produced in stoneware ceramic such as wall, floor tiles and sanitary ware.
These producers use red and white pastes, nevertheless, the usage of white paste is more frequent
and much higher in volume. In each category the fired ceramic waste was classified according to
the production process. This classification is reported in the following diagram (Figure 1) (F.
P.Torgal and S. Jalali, 2010).
The ceramics industry is comprised of the following subsectors: wall and floor tiles, sanitary
ware, bricks and roof tiles, refractory materials, technical ceramics and ceramic materials for
domestic and ornamental use. (A. Jual et al, 2010)

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Figure 1. Classification of ceramic wastes by type and production process. (F. P.Torgal and S.
Jalali, 2010).

3. MATERIAL AND METHODS

3.1. Cement

The cement used was ASTM Type I normal Portland cement (PC 42.5 MPa) with a specific
gravity of 3280 kg/m3. and its chemical composition is given in Table 1.

Table 1- Properties of CEM I 42.5 R Portland cement used in tests

SiO2 Al2O3 Fe2O3 CaO MgO SO3
Chemical Analysis, %
19.939 4.469 3.857 64.287 1.064 4.907
Fineness
Physical Specific Density Compressive Strength, 2 days 28 days
cm2/gr
Properties MPa
3.12 3280 26.5 57.0

3.2. Aggregate

İSTON Co. sand (S) and İSTON Co. crushed stones (CS), stone dust, floor tile waste dust and
sea dust were used. Maximum aggregate size was 16.5 mm. FTWA was obtained from the waste
depot of the Çanakkale Ceramic Tile Factory and FTWA was crushed 4-8 mm sizes. Five
different aggregates were used in the mix design. The unit weight of each aggregate was
determined. The results of these tests are given in Table 2.

Table 2- Unit weight of aggregates

Crushed stones Crushed stones

FTW Stone dust Sea sand
(8-16 mm) (4-8 mm)

2460 kg/m3 2744 kg/m3 2742 kg/m3 2736 kg/m3 2650 kg/m3

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4. CONCRETE MIXTURE PROPORTIONS

The aim of this study was to produce C30/37 (28-day cubic compressive strength of 37 MPa.)
quality concrete with ceramic tile waste. Approximate concrete composition is given in Table 3.
The mixture is designed according to the absolute volume method given by Turkish Standard TS
802. Three concrete mixes were prepared using the mix design according to TS EN 206. One
mix is a reference concrete mix (labeled as ‘REF’) containing only natural crushed stone
aggregate whilst 2 concrete mixes (FTWA, FTWD+FTWA) were prepared which are given in
Table 3.

Table 3- Compositions of the mixtures under study

FTWD+
REF FTWA
FTWA Concrete
Raw Material Concrete
Concrete
% % %
CEM I 42,5 R cement 14.67 14.67 14.67
Floor tile waste aggregates - 31 31
Floor tile waste dust - 32 -
Crushed stones (4-8 mm) 31 - -
Sea sand 32 - 32
Crushed stones (8-16 mm) 22 22 22
Stone dust 15 15 15
Water 7.93 7.93 7.93
Total 100.00 100.00 100.00

Three types of concrete mixes were designed by the volumetric method with same water-cement
ratio (0.54). Figure 2 indicate the flow chart of the whole process of raw concrete ingredients
consist of raw material that are aggregate, Portland cement and water. The aggregate are divided
into two types that are coarse aggregate and fine aggregate. The coarse aggregate consist of
ceramic waste and crushed stone where as fine aggregate consist of the sand. The ratio for each
model was based on volumetric method.

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 Raw material

Cement Aggregate Water

Crushed Stone Water

(4-8 mm)
cement
ratio
Floor tile Coarse Fine
0.54
waste
Crushed Stone
(8-16 mm)
Sea Floor tile Stone
sand waste dust dust

Figure 2. Flow chart of the raw material process

5. RESULTS AND DISCUSSION

5.1 Specific density and water adsorption

The data in Table 4 indicate that the specific density and water absorption rates of the concretes.
The best water absorption value (1.394 %) was displayed by FTWA concrete. The specific
density varied from 2.362 kg/m3 to 2.078 kg/m3 from 1.997 kg/m3, for the REF concrete, FTWA
concrete, FTWD+FTWA concrete respectively. The picture of concrete samples is given Figure
3.

Table 4- Result of the bulk density and water adsorption

Sample Specific density Water Adsorption %
B, (kg/m3)
REF Concrete 2.362 1.552
FTWA Concrete 2.078 1.394
FTWD+FTWA
1.997 3.553
Concrete

REF FTWA FTWD+FTWA

Figure 3. The picture of concrete samples

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5.2. Mechanical behaviour of hardened concrete

5.2.1 Compressive and flexural strength

The compressive and flexural strength results of the concretes were determined by curing 2, 7,
28 days, and the results are given in Table 5. Fifteen centimeters of cube concrete specimens
(compressive strength) and beam mold specimens (flexural strength) were used in the strength
tests. Demoulded at one day, the specimens were cured in water at 20 ± 3°C until 2, 7 and 28 day
age, then tested. Compressive and flexural strength measurements were taken of the compressive
strength of three samples of each composition.

Table 5- Compressive and flexural strength of manufactured concretes

2days 7days 28 days
Strength Strengh Strength
(MPa) (MPa) (MPa)

Sample Name Compressive Flexural Compressive Flexural Compressive Flexural

REF 16,56 1,12 23,82 2,06 37,08 2,62

FTWA 18,89 1,38 27,80 2,08 38,16 3,13
FTWD+FTWA 6,69 0,88 13,50 0,89 22,80 1,17

As it can be seen from Table 5 that compressive and flexural strengths of FTWA concrete for
each of the three curing time is higher than the other two concrete types. REF concrete has better
strength value than FTWD+FTWA concrete. Compressive strength value 28 days curing of
FTWD+FTWA concrete does not correspond the requirements of TS EN 206-1 standard which
is 37 MPa for C 30/37.

5.2.2 SEM and EDS analysis

Microstructure was studied with scanning electron microscopic (SEM) methods. Figures show
the micrographs appearance and energy dispersive spectroscopy (EDS) of the 28-day REF (Fig.
4), 28-day FTWA (fig.5) and 28-day FTWD+FTWA (Fig. 6) concretes.

Figure 4. SEM images and EDS analysis of 28-day REF concrete

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Figure 5. SEM images and EDS analysis of 28-day FTWA concrete

Figure 6. SEM images and EDS analysis of 28-day FTWD+FTWA concrete

There is no apparent interface in REF concrete comparing to other concretes. On the contrary it
can be seen prominently interface in FTWA concrete depends on floor tile waste. EDS analysis
show that the raw materials peak. When part of floor tile waste is replaced by the crushed stone,
hexagonal portlandite is found under SEM (Peiwei, G et al, 2008).

6. CONCLUSIONS

Based on the experimental results obtained from this study, the following conclusions can be
drawn.

The compressive strengths of FTWA concrete for each of the three curing time is higher than
the other two concrete types.
The best water absorption value (1.394 %) was displayed by FTWA concrete.
The compressive strengths of FTWA concrete for each of the three curing time is higher than
the other two concrete types.
The best water absorption value (1.394 %) was displayed by FTWA concrete. The specific
density varied from 2.362 kg/m3 to 2.078 kg/m3 from 1.997 kg/m3, for the REF concrete,
FTWA concrete, FTWD+FTWA concrete respectively.
This research provided experimental confirmation of the promising potential of new
construction material using as raw material concrete production.
Ceramic waste can be transformed into useful crushed stone aggregate instead of coarse
aggregate. The properties of ceramic waste coarse aggregate are well within the range of the
values of concrete making aggregates.
Although our research objectives did not include an economic feasibility study, there is no
doubt that the use of industrial wastes as cost-free raw materials will represent substantial
savings for civil construction.
This experimental study indicates that the recycling of ceramic waste as coarse aggregates for
the production of nonstructural concrete artefacts is feasible.

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 ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

The authors are grateful to the TUBITAK Marmara Research Center Materials Institute for the
financial support of this research.

REFERENCES

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waste, Journal of Cleaner Production 17 (2009) 1663–1668
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properties, Construction and Building Materials 21 (2007) 1191–1197.
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