 Residual biomass of the agricultural industry as pore forming material in ceramics

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

Municipal and Industrial Waste: Sources, Management Practices and Future Challenges

Nova Publishers

Año: 2018; p. 249 - 264

In recent years, studies have been carried out on the use of a wide variety of so calledbiomass residues, which include agricultural by-products, food industry discards, etc.These wastes have been analyzed, among other applications, as pore formers in thetraditional ceramic industries.In the present study, the focus has been placed on agricultural biomass residues such ascorncobs, sunflower husks, olive stones, peanut shells, pistachio shells, pine sawdust andbrewery waste, in order to determine the general characteristics and the specificproperties that make them suitable for incorporation into clay mixtures for the productionof ceramics. These biomass wastes were analyzed from the point of view of theirchemical compositions and morphological structures.Most of the studied biomasses can be easily ground to obtain suitable particle sizes andhave a wide range of combustion, which prevents cracks in the obtained ceramicproducts. In this way, they can be valorized as pore formers in clay ceramic pieces.