Brewing wastes characterization and feasibility of their use for production of porous ceramics

NANCY QUARANTA; MARTA CALIGARIS; , GISELA PELOZO; MIGUEL UNSEN; ADRIÁN CRISTÓBAL

Waste Management. Transactions on Ecology and the Environment 2016

WIT Editorial

Año: 2016; p. 299 - 310

During brewing large amounts of organic solid wastes, including bagasse, yeast, malt and hops residues, among others are originated. The objective of this work is to study these wastes and analyse the feasibility of their use as pore-forming material in the manufacture of porous ceramics. The residues from the production of craft beer consist of wet solid wastes resulting from the separation by filtration after the mixtures maceration. This material was dried and then characterized using various techniques. Porous ceramic pieces were obtained from green bodies manufactured with mixtures of commercial clay with 10% in volume of residue, formed by uniaxial pressure of 25MPa, with addition of 6% in weight of water. After a drying period, the samples were heat treated at 950°C following curves similar to those used in the ceramic industry. The compacts were characterized with different techniques. The obtained products have good physical and mechanical properties, with values of porosity, modulus of rupture, permanent volumetric variation and weight loss on ignition, within the range required in the market. The study of the feasibility of using these wastes as porosity former in ceramic tiles indicates that it is possible to use them without modifying the usual conditions of the industry, since the organic material incorporated combusted leaving a very low proportion of inorganic material that does not modify the diagrams with major oxides which remain being those of the clay used as main raw material, and these combustions are slow enough to allow sintering without deformation of the samples.