Aiming to create alternatives for the disposal of sludge generated in wastewater treatment plants (WWTP) considering the circular economy principles and contributing to the reduction of environmental impacts generated by civil construction, the objective of this work was to evaluate the technical feasibility of the partial replacement of cement in the production of mortars by the sludge produced at the Bragança WWTP. The sludge was characterised, and different methods were used to prepare the sludge for the mortar. The sludge was incorporated by replacing part of the concrete mass of the mortar mixture. The specimens were tested for compressive strength. The specimen with 7% of sludge ash obtained the best result, the specimens with sludge from the drying-only treatments showed a result similar among themselves. The incorporation of the sludge resulted in mortars within the specification of the standard EN 998-1: 2018 and consequently have technical feasibility.
This research was financially supported by LA/P/0045/2020 (ALiCE), UIDB/50020/2020 and UIDP/50020/2020 (LSRE-LCM), funded by national funds through FCT/MCTES (PIDDAC).
This study aimed to investigate the technical feasibility of replacing cement in mortar production with sludge generated in wastewater treatment plants (WWTPs), prepared using different treatments. The sludge used in the experiments was processed using four different methods to investigate the effect of processing on the mechanical strength of the specimens. The sludge was then mixed with mortar in different proportions, and samples were produced for flexural and compressive strength tests. The results showed that specimens with 7% sludge from the burned treatment exhibited the highest resistance, surpassing the standard. Specimens with sludge from the drying treatments showed similar results. This study found that using sludge in mortar production could lead to energy savings compared to traditional cement production methods. Moreover, the incorporation of sludge resulted in mortars that met the specifications of the EN 998-1:2018 standard, thereby indicating their technical feasibility. Therefore, this study demonstrated the potential of using sludge from WWTPs as a substitute for cement in mortar production, which could contribute to the reduction in the environmental impacts caused by civil construction and the development of sustainable alternatives for the disposal of sludge generated in WWTPs.
