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Building and Environment 40 (2005) 1533–1537

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Utilization of kraft pulp production residues in clay brick production

Ismail Demira,, M. Serhat Baspınara, Mehmet Orhanb
a
Afyon Kocatepe University, Faculty of Technical Education, A.N.S. Campus, 03100, Afyon, Turkey
b
Gazi University, Faculty of Technical Education, 06500 Besevler, Ankara, Turkey
Received 1 August 2003; accepted 25 November 2004

Abstract

The main objective of this study is to investigate the utilization potential of kraft pulp production residues in clay brick. Kraft
pulp production is the primary phase of the paper industry. Long cellulose fibers are produced from wood, straw and reeds in kraft
pulp production. Short cellulose fibers are separated as an organic waste material from the production system. This type of residue is
only utilized in agricultural purpose or in the production of moulded egg cartons. Kraft pulp production plant of Seka Company
(located at Afyon-C - ay/Turkey), which has 50,000 tpy dried pulp production capacity, generates important amount of organic
wastes. Location of the plant is very close to brick manufacturing facilities and this is the main encouraging reason for the
investigation study.
One way of the increasing the insulation capacity of the brick is generating porosity in clay body. Combustible organic types of
pore forming additives are most frequently used for this purpose. Due to the organic nature of pulp residue, pore-forming ability in
clay body was investigated. For this purpose, increasing amount of residue (0%, 2.5%, 5% and 10 wt%) was mixed with raw brick-
clay. All samples were fired at 900 1C. Effect on shaping, plasticity, density and mechanical properties were investigated. 2.5 to 5%
residue additions were found to be effective for the pore forming in clay body with acceptable mechanical properties. It was observed
that, fibrous nature of residue does not create any extrusion problem but increase in residue addition increased the water content for
the plasticity. As a conclusion, kraft pulp residues can be utilized in brick-clay as an organic pore-forming agent and by this way it
can be utilized in environmentally safe way.
r 2005 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Keyword: Pulp residue; Clay brick; Pore forming; Environment

1. Introduction (inorganic material, fibers and biological sludge), dust

Cellulose and paper making industry generates im-
portant amount of waste material. The pulp and paper
industry is characterized by four major processes: (i)
chemical pulping (Kraft or sulphate pulping), (ii)
mechanical and chemi-mechanical pulping, (iii) recycled
fiber processing and (iv) paper-making related processes.
The chemical pulping process produces several residues
including inorganic sludge (dregs and lime mud), wood,
straw or reed residues, sludges from effluent treatment
Corresponding author. Tel.: +90 272 2281311;
fax: +90 272 2281235.
E-mail address: idemir@aku.edu.tr (I. Demir).
from boiler sand furnace. By-products and residues from
mechanical and chemi-mechanical pulping include wood,
straw and reed residues, fiber rejects, excess sludges from
external biological waste water treatment [1].
The by-products and residues from pulp and paper
industry are managed using several approaches includ-
ing land filling, incineration, use in cement plant and
brickworks, agricultural use and composting, anaerobic
treatment, recycling and others [2–4]. Due to the high
organic contents and calorific values of these residues,
incineration is favoured [1].
The main objective of this study is to determine the
usability of the straw and reed residues, which are
generated during the bleached kraft pulp production, in

0360-1323/$ - see front matter r 2005 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.
doi:10.1016/j.buildenv.2004.11.021
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1534 I. Demir et al. / Building and Environment 40 (2005) 1533–1537

constructional clay brick production. Due to the from first milling operations and contains coarse woody
environmental regulations, demand for the high insula- part of raw material. This residue has low utilization
tion capacity bricks is increasing. The thermal con- potential and usually landfill. The second one is
ductivity is a decisive factor for the heat-engineering separated after the digestion and washing operation by
concept of thermal insulating material. Apart from the screening. These residues contain short cellulose fibers
molecular composition of a material, it also depends on and utilized in the production of moulded egg cartons.
the air pore content and its structure. For building The second type of organic residue was selected to use it
practice therefore the body density determines the in brick production as a pore-forming additive. Residues
thermal conductivity [5]. One of the most conventional were taken from Kraft pulp production plant of Seka
ways to increase the insulation capacity of the brick is to Company (located at Afyon-Cay/Turkey), which has
generate porosity in fired clay body. Adding porosifers 50,000 tonne/year dried pulp production capacity and
to the ceramic body can form pores. Most frequently use straw and reed as a raw material. The location of
used pore formers, which are used in clay brick plant is very near to the brick production facilities.
manufacturing can be classified into two groups.
Sawdust, styropor, paper sludge, coal and coke are
some examples for the organic pore formers. Perlite,
diatomite, lime flour, pumice and vermiculite are 2. Materials and method
examples for the inorganic (mineral) type pore formers.
Organic pore formers are generally cheaper than In order to measure the structural properties and
inorganics and also when they are burnt; it gives feasibility of using Kraft pulp production residue in
oversupply of heat to the firing furnace. However, brick production, the materials and methods are
CO2 emission is the main drawback of the organic pore explained in this section. According to SEM investiga-
formers. Inorganic pore formers have less environmen- tions, cellulose fiber thickness is between 5 and 20 mm
tal problems but they may change the plasticity of the and some inorganic materials are found on the surface
clay system negatively and may increase the water of the cellulose fiber (Fig. 2).
demand for the plasticity [6–9]. Organic process residues
are extensively used as a pore former in brick industry.
Paper making sludge or residues is one of the best-
2.1. Properties of brick raw material
known organic pore-forming residues. It contains both
organic materials and inorganics such as lime, kaolin or
The clay material for brick samples is taken from one
bentonite etc. [10]. It should be mentioned that paper-
of the brick manufacturing plant in Afyon region in
making residues, because of the high fiber content, have
Turkey. Chemical composition of the used clay is given
now become indispensable in many clay products for the
on Table 1, and according to the XRD investigation it
stabilization of drying behaviour, so that apart from its
was found that montmorillonite, quartz, clinochlore,
pore forming action, it may also be regarded as a
illite and calcite exist in clay mineral structure. The
production auxiliary [11]. However, bleached Kraft pulp
particle size distributions of raw clay was analysed on a
production, which is early stage of paper production,
Laser Size Distribution Analyser (Master Sizer X 1.2b)
also generates an important amount of organic residue,
and particle size distribution is given on Table 2.
which contains short cellulose fibers without any
mineral content, and this has not been utilized
sufficiently yet.
Two types of organic residue are generated during the
bleached kraft pulp production (Fig. 1). First one is

Wood Digestion
Mill Screening Bleaching Pulp
Straw and
Washing drying
Reed

Coarse Fine Residue,

woody NaOH Black (containing short
residue White liquor cellulose fibers)
liquor

Fresh Recovery
Lime mud
Lime (residue)
Detector=QBSD Mag= 701X Chamber= 4Pa 20µm
I Probe= 397pA EHT= 25.00kV Vacuum Mode=Variable Pressure seka-residue
Fig. 1. Bleached kraft pulp production flow chart and process
residues. Fig. 2. SEM (Back scattered image) picture of waste cellulose fiber.
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I. Demir et al. / Building and Environment 40 (2005) 1533–1537
Table 1
Chemical composition of clay
Al2O3 SiO2 Na2O K2O
20.75 51.86 0.76 3.68
Table 2
Particle size distribution of clay
Particle size (mm)
420
2–20
o2
2.2. Preparation of the test samples
In order to investigate the extent of the porosifiying
effect of pulp residue body, different amounts of residue
were added to the clay body. Before mixing with residue,
clay was passing through the drum type crusher having
1 mm opening. Pulp residue was dried to the constant
weight in order to ensure correct amount of addition.
Before mixing with clay, pulp residue was first dissolved
in water and clay was added later to it. After mixing,
mixture was poured on the gypsum plate and plastic body
was obtained for shaping of the samples. Four different
series of sample were prepared for the tests depending on
the pulp residue addition. Series A is the standard clay
brick containing no addition. Series B, C and D contain
2.5%, 5% and 10% pulp residue, respectively.
Depending on the residue addition, change in the
plasticity of the clay body was measured. For this
purpose, Pefferkorn test was used. 33  40 mm cylind-
rical test pieces (for plasticity and compression test) and
25  25  150 mm prismatic test samples (for dry bend-
ing strength) were shaped with extrusion method [12].
The consistency present at 24 mm residual deformation
level corresponds in scale nearly to the degree of stiffness
necessary for the production of column deformation.
After test, residual heights of the samples were
measured. 24-mm residual height and corresponding
water content is noted as plasticity water.
Shaped samples were dried at laboratory conditions
(21 1C, 40% relative humidity) for 72 h and then dried to
constant weight at 105 1C in the oven. Dried samples
were fired in laboratory type electrically heated furnace
at the rate of 2 1C/min until 600 1C and then at the rate
of 5 1C/min untill 900 1C. Furnace was turned of after
holding period of 30 min.
3. Test results and discussion
At least 10 samples were used at each test for all
categories and the averages are presented and discussed
1535
CaO Fe2O3 MgO SO3 L.O.I Total
3.75 6.48 1.75 1.20 9.3 99.53
wt%
25
45
30
Detector=QBSD Mag= 653 X seka-brick(vp) 20µm
I Probe= 397 pA EHT= 25.00 kV Vacuum Mode=Variable Pressure
Fig. 3. SEM (Back scattered image) picture of unfired brick sample.
in this section. Samples were tested for plasticity, water
absorption, bulk density, apparent density and apparent
porosity. Compressive strength of the samples was also
measured. Unfired brick sample was investigated with
SEM. It was observed that texture of the cellulose fibers
is nearly parallel to the extrusion direction (Fig. 3).
3.1. Effect of residue addition on shaping and plasticity
Plasticity is an important parameter for the produc-
tion of constructional clay brick. Because, brick industry
mainly uses extrusion shaping and therefore insufficient
plasticity creates extrusion failures and heterogeneities
in clay body and this cause lower mechanical properties.
Effect of pulp residue addition on the plasticity and
ignition loss of the clay body is given in Table 3.
It was found that increase in residue addition to clay
body increases the required water content for the
plasticity of clay-residue mixture. The capability of
cellulose fiber to absorb water into their naturally
existing water channel is main reason for the increase
in water demand for plasticity. No particular problem
was observed in the extrusion and drying process. It was
observed that fibrous nature of pulp residue did not
create any difficulties during the mixing and extrusion
phase.
The firing loss value of the samples increased with
increase in the amount of residue addition. There was no
black coring observed at the broken cross-section of the
residue containing fired samples. This is an important
observation, because evolving gases due to combustion
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Table 3 Table 4
Plasticity and ignition loss values of the test samples Density and mechanical properties of fired samples (900 1C firing
temperature)
Sample series
Mechanical properties Sample series
A B C D
A B C D
Pulp residue content (wt%) 0 2.5 5 10
h24 (plasticity water %) 30 35 38 40 Apparent porosity (%) 30 35 41 52
(according to Pefferkorn test) Bulk density (gr/cm3) 1.82 1.49 1.43 1.40
Loss of ignition at 900 1C 8.9 13.6 15.75 18.25 Apparent density (gr/cm3) 2.42 1.96 1.85 1.80
firing temperature Water absorption (%) 14.46 23.47 28.66 37.14
Drying shrinkage (%) 4.4 4.6 4.6 5.2 Compressive strengtha (kg/cm2) 155 128 112 95
Dry bending strength (Mpa) 3.1 3.7 4.1 3.9
a
TS 705: min compressive strength is 50 kg/cm2 [13].

of organics is the main drawback of organic porosifier in
clay body. Absence of black coring indicates that pulp
residues were completely burnt out and gas evolution
was completed before the closing of surface porosities
due to the sintering of clay at the applied firing
procedure. No cracking and bloating were observed on
the fired samples.
3.2. Effect of residue addition on drying
Drying of brick clay is the most important stage in
brick manufacturing. Small cracks may develop during
the drying of the clay body and this cause failure during
firing step of the brick. Drying strains increase as the
drying shrinkage increase and clay body is more
susceptible to cracking. Pulp residue addition increased
the drying shrinkage of the clay body and also water
demand for plasticity (Table 3). However, increase in
drying shrinkage was not so high as in plasticity water
increment. Up to 5% residue addition change in drying
shrinkage is not so much pronounced. It was considered
that, being hollow and absorbent nature of cellulose
fibbers stabilizes the drying behaviour of the clay body
despite the increase in water demand. Ten percent
residue addition was found to be unsuitable because of
increase in drying shrinkage. Residue addition slightly
increased the dry bending strength of clay body up to
5% addition (Table 4). Ten percent addition lowered the
bending strength. Increase in dry bending strength of
clay body is possibly due to the fiber strengthening effect
of residue, which has fibrous shape. Increase in bending
strength is found to be very useful for the preventing
handling problems of the clay-brick.
3.3. Effect of residue addition on the density and
mechanical properties
Water absorption, bulk density, apparent density and
apparent porosity were measured by using water
absorption method. Table 4 shows that an increase in
the amount of pulp residue brings about a reduction in
the clay body density. The main reason for such a trend
is combustion of the pulp residue, which is an organic
material, during the sintering period.
Addition of 2.5% residue (B series) to clay body
caused 18% decrease in bulk density. However, addi-
tional residue (From B series to C series) reduced the
bulk density of clay body only 4%. According to these
observations, 2.5–5% pulp residue additions to clay
body seem to be optimal addition ratio. Because, 10%
addition caused only 2.1% bulk density decrease as
compared to C series sample. Similar to apparent
porosity, water absorption values were also increased
with increase in residue addition amount.
An apparatus with a testing capacity of 25 kN
pressures was used in the testing procedure. The
minimum average crushing strength prescribed in
Turkish Standard code for burnt clay hollow bricks
are 5 MPa [13]. Depending on the increase in residue
addition and in porosity content, compressive strength
of the samples decreased. Compressive strength of the
all series sample is higher than the standard strength
values TS705.
4. Conclusions
Based on the experimental investigation reported in
this paper, following conclusions are obtained:
1. Kraft pulp residue addition to clay body increases
the required water content for plasticity.
2. Fibrous nature of residue does not create any
problem during shaping at used addition levels.
There was not any extrusion failures observed.
3. Drying shrinkage of the clay body is slightly
increased up to 5% residue addition. Ten percent
residue addition is found to be unsuitable because of
increase in drying shrinkage.
4. Pulp residue addition increases the dry bending
strength of the clay samples up to 5% residue
addition. This is found to be useful for the
decreasing the rejects due to the handling problems
of the unfired bricks.
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I. Demir et al. / Building and Environment 40 (2005) 1533–1537
5. According to drying shrinkage and dry bending
strength values, pulp residues can be used to
stabilize the drying period of the clay-brick. It is
possible to decrease the drying and firing rejects by
using pulp residue addition.
6. Pulp residue is easily burnt out from the clay body
during firing. There was not any black coring and
bloating was observed after firing.
7. Organic nature of pulp residue makes a positive
contribution to the heat input of the kiln.
8. Pulp residue can be effectively used for the pore
forming up to 5% addition levels; further addition is
not so effective for the decreasing of the bulk density
of the clay body.
9. Compressive strength of the samples is decreased by
addition of the residue. However, the values are still
higher than the required strength values of the
TS705.
10. Kraft pulp production residues can be used as an
organic type pore-forming additive in clay body
without any detrimental effect on the other brick
manufacturing parameters.
5. Suggestions
Besides the pore-forming ability, fiber-strengthening
effect of the kraft pulp production residue at dry state of
clay body is found to be very interesting. Other organic
(sytrofoam, saw dust, coal tailings, etc.) or mineral type
(calcite, fly ash, diatomite, perlite, pumice, etc.) pore
formers have generally tendency to lower the dry
strength. Usage of small quantity of kraft pulp
production residue together with other pore formers
may enhance the drying properties of the clay-brick. The
1537
reuse of kraft pulp production residues in brick
production provides an economical contribution and
protects the environment.
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