Construction and Building Materials 25 (2011) 2107–2111

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Construction and Building Materials

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Preparation of eco-friendly construction bricks from hematite tailings

Yongliang Chen a,⇑, Yimin Zhang a,⇑, Tiejun Chen a, Yunliang Zhao b, Shenxu Bao b
a
College of Resource and Environmental Engineering, Wuhan University of Science and Technology, Wuhan 430081, China
b
College of Resource and Environmental Engineering, Wuhan University of Technology, Wuhan 430070, China

a r t i c l e i n f o a b s t r a c t

Article history: With the objective of reducing the negative impacts on environment and utilizing the secondary resource
Received 30 June 2010 of tailings, the possibility of making construction bricks by using the hematite tailings from western
Received in revised form 29 October 2010 Hubei province of China was investigated. Besides hematite tailings, the additives of clay and fly ash were
Accepted 13 November 2010
added to the raw materials to improve the brick quality. Through the process of mixing, forming, drying
Available online 16 December 2010
and firing, the bricks were produced. The optimum conditions were found to be that the hematite tailings
content were as high as 84%, forming water content and forming pressure were respectively in the range
Keywords:
of 12.5–15% and 20–25 MPa, and the suitable firing temperature was ranged from 980 to 1030 °C for 2 h.
Hematite tailings
Utilization
Under these conditions, the mechanical strength and water absorption of the reddish fired specimens
Bricks were 20.03–22.92 MPa and 16.54–17.93%, respectively, and the other physical properties and durability
Properties were well conformed to Chinese Fired Common Bricks Standard (GB/T5101-2003). The phases and mor-
Microstructure phologies of the green tailings and fired specimen were characterized by XRD and SEM. The results
showed that the main mineral phases of the product were hematite, quartz, anorthite and tridymite,
which were principally responsible for the mechanical strength of bricks.
Ó 2010 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

1. Introduction
Iron tailings as a kind of waste products after ore dressing is one
of the major industrial solid wastes. The rapid development of iron
and steel industry has led to the increasing amount of iron tailings.
According to statistic, there are more than 150 kinds of mineral re-
sources in over 8000 operating mines in China, which have dis-
carded and stacked about 5.97 billion tons of tailings till now,
the iron tailings stacked account for about one third of the total
tailings, but there are still continuously discharged and stacked
over 300 million tons per year [1,2]. Few reuse and large stockpile
of iron tailings have led to a number of environmental and social
problems [3–5]. In recent years, comprehensive utilization of tail-
ings has been receiving considerable attention, especially recovery
of iron and other metals from tailings [6–12], which is a well-
recognized process because of substantial economical benefits.
However, it generates the problems of disposal and secondary pol-
lution again. However, using tailings to produce building materials
not only can realize zero-emission of tailings wastes, but also
would offer a new raw material for building industry, which is a
more effective resource recovery alternative.
On the other hand, for protecting clay resource and developing
eco-friendly building materials, the Chinese government has for-
bidden producing and using normal clay solid bricks in many cities,
⇑ Corresponding authors.
E-mail addresses: cyl38509@163.com (Y. Chen), zym126135@126.com (Y.
Zhang).
and has been actively advocating the use of solid wastes for mak-
ing building materials to realize the phase-out of common clay
solid bricks [13]. Because iron tailings is mainly composed of inor-
ganic substances together with a little of metal compositions such
as iron, aluminum and few heavy metal compositions, which is so
similar to the natural clay that they can be used as a clay substitute
to produce bricks. Therefore, utilizing iron tailings replacing clay to
produce construction brick is not only conform to the ecological
policy of China, but also offer a promising and feasible approach
for comprehensive utilization of tailings.
The present study investigated the feasibility of producing con-
struction bricks from hematite tailings of western Hubei together
with a small quantity of clay and fly ash, and discussed the suitable
process conditions and formulation of raw materials.
2. Experimental
2.1. Materials
The tailings were acquired from dressing plant in western Hubei, the raw ore
belongs to high phosphorus oolitic hematite that is a kind of complex and refractory
iron ore, there are higher iron content in the hematite tailings than others. Clay was
taken from Hongxing bricks manufacturing plant in Wuhan. After drying, the clay
and tailings became large consolidated agglomerates, which require pulverizing
and sieving that was helpful to raw materials blending before using in bricks man-
ufacturing. Fly ash was obtained from the electrostatic precipitators of Qingshan
thermal power plant in Wuhan, which presented in fine powders with grey color.
The chemical analysis of raw materials used that tailings, clay and fly ash are
shown in Table 1. It presented that the main constituents of the tailings were iron
and silicon which account for over 50% of the weight, but it contained too high iron

0950-0618/$ - see front matter Ó 2010 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.
doi:10.1016/j.conbuildmat.2010.11.025
2108 Y. Chen et al. / Construction and Building Materials 25 (2011) 2107–2111

Table 1
Chemical composition of raw materials (wt.%).

Composition SiO2 Al2O3 CaO TFe MgO P2O5 K2O TiO2 Na2O LOI
Hematite tailing 24.40 10.95 6.20 31.15 0.99 2.78 0.86 0.42 0.28 6.95
Clay 63.96 16.93 0.87 4.35 1.64 0.19 2.35 0.89 0.90 5.59
Fly ash 48.41 28.05 5.78 2.66 0.59 0.32 1.34 1.06 0.43 9.12

and too low silica for producing bricks [2], which could increase shrinkage and bulk
density and decrease the strength of bricks, thus results in the bricks could not meet
the requirements of the standards. However, the major constituents of the clay and quartz
fly ash as the general raw materials for bricks were silicon and aluminum which ac- montmorillonite
count for over 75% of the weight. So adding clay and fly ash in proper percentage
illite
could make up for the disadvantages of the tailings for producing bricks.
Further X-ray diffraction analysis of the tailings and clay used are revealed in hematite
Figs. 1 and 2, which indicated that the major mineral phases of the tailings used
were quartz and hematite while calcite and chlorite occurred as minor phases, in
the clay quartz, montmorillonite and illite were the major phases and hematite
was the minor phase.

2.2. Experimental methods

The mixtures with different proportions of hematite tailings, fly ash and clay
were firstly mixed for 10 min in a blender, some water was then added to the mix-
tures to homogenize for 10 min. The moistened granules were pressed into cylinder
with dimension of U50  50 mm for producing brick specimens using a hydraulic
press. The formed specimens were dried in an oven at 105 °C for 6–8 h, then the
dried specimens were fired in an electric furnace. The furnace temperature was
gradually increased at a heating rate of 6 °C/min from room temperature to desired
firing temperature and holding for 2 h, and finally the fired specimens were cooled
in air to room temperature. As required by the Fired Common Bricks Standard (GB/
T5101-2003) [14] for construction bricks, the important properties of bricks includ-
ing compressive strength, water absorption and bulk density were tested to deter-
mine the appropriate conditions for producing qualified bricks.
The compressive strength of fired specimens was measured by press testing
machine (YES-100). Water absorption and bulk density tests were performed in
accordance with the methods described in Test Methods for Wall Bricks (GB/
T2542-2003) [15]. The chemical composition of raw materials was determined by
X-ray fluorescence (XRF) (AXIOS). The mineral phases of the main raw materials
and the final firing specimen were identified with X-ray diffraction (XRD) (D/MX-
IIIA). The morphologies of specimens were examined through scanning electron
microscopy (SEM) (Japan, JSM-5610LV).
3. Results and discussion
3.1. Effect of raw materials formulation on the properties of fired
specimens
The main disadvantage of the hematite tailings in producing
bricks is the presence of excessive iron and less silica. On the con-
trary, common clay and fly ash usually contain high amounts of
quartz
hematite
chlorite
calcite
0 10 20 30 40 50 60 70
0
2θ ( )
Fig. 2. XRD pattern of clay.
silica and aluminum, moreover clay and fly ash often have lower
bulk density and are confirmed as good raw materials for making
bricks [16,17]. Adding clay and fly ash to the raw materials would
increase mechanical strength and reduce bulk density of the bricks.
The mixed samples with different proportions of tailings, clay and
fly ash were fired at 1000 °C which are the general firing tempera-
ture of clay bricks manufacturing and holding for 2 h. The proper-
ties of fired specimens are given in Table 2. Results indicated that
the bulk density of bricks decreased obviously with the additions
of clay and fly ash. However, the compressive strength dropped
sharply with the addition of fly ash. When the content of clay
was 5%, adding 4% fly ash made the compressive strength dropped
to 12.98 MPa. So the addition of fly ash reduced the bulk density,
but decreased the compressive strength at the same time. The
addition of clay could enhance the compressive strength of bricks,
with increasing amount of clay, the compressive strength of bricks
progressively increased. The water absorption showed a small var-
iation with various proportions of the tailings, clay and fly ash. As
can be seen from Table 2, the optimum mass ratio of tail-
ings:clay:fly ash was 84:10:6, in this conditions the properties of
fired specimens met the demands of MU20 in Fired Common Bricks
Standard (GB/T5101-2003).

3.2. Effect of firing temperature on the properties of fired specimens

Firing temperature has marked influence on the final quality of

bricks, which contribute to forming strong unity of bricks. When
the brick specimens are heated to a high temperature, series of
chemical and structural modification occur in raw materials, new
crystalline phases are formed, and the compactness of bricks is
intensified, which make the properties of bricks improved [18–
0 10 20 30 40 50 60 70 20]. Under the conditions that the mass ratio of tailings:clay:fly
2θ (
0
) ash = 84:10:6, forming water content 15% and forming pressure
20 MPa were chosen based on former exploratory experiments
Fig. 1. XRD pattern of hematite tailings. ensured complete formation, the dried samples were fired at 850,
 Y. Chen et al. / Construction and Building Materials 25 (2011) 2107–2111 2109

Table 2
Effect of different formulation on the properties of fired specimens.

Tailings (%) Clay (%) Fly ash (%) Water absorption (%) Compressive strength (MPa) Bulk density (g/cm3)
100 0 0 20.34 17.54 2.13
91 5 4 20.38 12.98 1.92
89 5 6 20.50 13.71 1.90
87 5 8 20.67 12.65 1.87
86 10 4 18.75 16.78 1.90
84 10 6 17.79 20.35 1.85
82 10 8 19.50 16.28 1.82
81 15 4 18.34 18.18 1.88
79 15 6 18.50 14.75 1.83
77 15 8 19.04 15.16 1.80

900, 950, 980, 1000, 1030 and 1050 °C for 2 h. The influence of fir- were 20.03–22.92 MPa and 16.54–17.93%, respectively, the color
ing temperature on compressive strength and water absorption of of bricks was reddish, the surface of bricks was smooth and free
the fired specimens is shown in Fig. 3. of defects such as cracks or bubbles, the other physical properties
As shown in Fig. 3, the compressive strength values increased and durability were well conformed to Fired Common Bricks Stan-
and water absorption values reduced with increasing firing tem- dard (GB/T5101-2003).
perature, especially above 900 °C, the increase in compressive
strength was more dramatically, it revealed that the temperature
3.3. Effect of forming water content on the properties of fired
of 900 °C was the starting firing temperature. But up to 1050 °C,
specimens
the color of specimens became darker and brownish, the firing
shrinkage became very obvious, and bulk density of the fired spec-
Forming water content is also an important factor affecting the
imens were above 2.0 g/cm3, beyond the range of bricks made with
quality of bricks. Too high forming water content will result in
clay which normally have a bulk density of 1.8–2.0 g/cm3. So the
optimum range of firing temperature was 980–1030 °C, where
25
mechanical strength and water absorption of the fired specimens
16
24
Compressive strength (MPa)

28 28
14

Water absorption (%)

Compressive strength 23
26 26
Compressive strength
Compressive strength (MPa)

Water absorption
12 Water absorption 22
24 24
Water absorption (%)

22 22 10 21

20 20 20
8
18 18
19
16 16 6
18
14 14 10 15 20 25 30

12 12 Forming pressure (MPa)

850 900 950 1000 1050
Fig. 5. Compressive strength and water absorption of fired specimens with respect
Temperature (°C ) to forming pressure.

Fig. 3. Compressive strength and water absorption of the fired specimens with
respect to firing temperature.
hematite
quartz
25 anorthite
16 Compressive strength tridymite
Water absorption 24
Compressive strength (MPa)

15
Water absorption (%)

23
14
22
13

12 21

11 20

10 19

9 18
4 6 8 10 12 14 16 18 20
10 20 30 40 50 60 70
Forming water content (%) 0
2θ ( )
Fig. 4. Compressive strength and water absorption of fired specimens with respect
to forming water content. Fig. 6. XRD pattern of fired specimens.
2110 Y. Chen et al. / Construction and Building Materials 25 (2011) 2107–2111
Fig. 7. SEM photographs of brick specimens: (a) dried specimen without firing; (b) specimen fired at 1000 °C.
higher flowing rate, and even make the bricks deformed. Besides,
the evaporation of the excessive water in drying and firing leaves
more and larger pores, which would make the mechanical strength
decreased and the water absorption increased [21]. But less form-
ing water content will bring about the mixtures too incompact to
forming. Determined the conditions that the mass ratio of tail-
ings:clay:fly ash = 80:10:10, forming pressure was 20 MPa, firing
temperature was 1000 °C for 2 h, the effect of forming water con-
tent on compressive strength and water absorption of bricks is
shown in Fig. 4. Results indicated that with forming water content
ranged from 5 to 15% the compressive strength increased, but fur-
ther increase of forming water content would result in the
decrease of compressive strength. Moreover, water absorption
values were found to increase with increase in forming water
content. So the optimum forming water content was 12.5–15%.
3.4. Effect of forming pressure on the properties of fired specimens
Under appropriate pressure, from relax granules to form com-
pact unity, the forming process of the mixtures of tailings, clay
and fly ash were implemented. Higher forming pressure could lead
to more compact touch between granules and more strong cohe-
sion and combine force in the bricks, thus results in the higher
compressive strength of bricks. Fig. 5 shows the influence of form-
ing pressure on the compressive strength and water absorption of
bricks. When the forming pressure varied from 10 to 20 MPa, the
compressive strength of brick specimens rapidly increased, but
over 20 MPa, the compressive strength valves increased little.
The water absorption of brick specimens decreased drastically
with increasing forming pressure. Additionally, higher forming
pressure results in higher density of bricks, higher energy con-
sumption and production cost, so the suitable forming pressure
was selected as 20–25 MPa.
3.5. Characterization of fired specimens
The phases and morphologies of the final fired specimens,
which were prepared in the optimum conditions that the mass ra-
tio of tailings:clay:fly ash = 84:10:6, forming water content 15%,
forming pressure 20 MPa and firing temperature 1000 °C for 2 h,
were characterized by XRD and SEM. The XRD pattern of the final
fired specimen is shown in Fig. 6. Comparing with Fig. 1 revealed
that the peaks of calcite and chlorite existing in green tailings dis-
appeared, the new peaks of anorthite and tridymite emerged,
which indicated that calcite and chlorite in green tailings were
decomposed and a small amount of anorthite and tridymite gener-
ated in the firing process. The major crystalline phases present in
fired specimens were quartz, hematite, anorthite and tridymite,
which formed the main mineral framework of fired specimens,
were responsible for the mechanical strength of bricks.
The microstructure of fractured surface of the dried specimen
without firing and the final fired specimen are shown in Fig. 7.
The dried specimen revealed compact microstructure and sheet-
like appearance of phyllosilicates (Fig. 7a), after fired at 1000 °C
for 2 h, as Fig. 7b showed clear evidence of vitrification or partial
melting, which was the typical grain and bond microstructure,
and crystalline phases were embedded in glassy matrix forming
strong entirety, which promoted the strength of bricks. Moreover
large amount of interconnected and irregular pores were formed
due to water evaporation and dehydroxylation in firing process.
Besides, the spherical fly ash particles could be observed, which re-
sulted in the decrease of bulk density of bricks.
4. Conclusions
It was feasible to make construction bricks using the hematite
tailings from western Hubei province of China. The percentage of
tailings used in the bricks could come up to 84% of the total weight,
and the recommended mass ratio was the tailings:clay:fly
ash = 84:10:6, with a 12.5–15% forming water content and 20–
25 MPa forming pressure, firing temperature 980–1030 °C for 2 h
to produce good quality bricks. The produced bricks under these
conditions were well conformed to Chinese Fired Common Bricks
Standard (GB/T5101-2003). The research provided an attractive
method for recycling hematite tailings into building materials
and realized the zero-emission of tailings, which should be helpful
in the production of construction bricks using green raw materials
and recycle of industrial waste.
Acknowledgements
This research was supported by the Ministry of Science and
Technology of the People’s Republic of China (Projects from Key
Projects in the National Science & Technology Pillar Program dur-
ing the Eleventh Five-Year Plan Period, 2007BAB15B02).
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