FLY ASH BRICKS / INTERLOCKING BLOCKS

Fly ash blocks / bricks is an established technology and its use is

increasingly being promoted in the areas where there is abundant
burnt coal ash is available, being the waste from coal based thermal
power projects. Ministry of environment and forest, Govt. of India has
issued guidelines for mandatory use of fly ash in bricks / blocks on
progressive basis for construction with in 100 km of every power
project. Good grade Fly ash is a very good raw material for
construction usage. Hydraform India has further improvised on the
established and time tested technology to use Fly Ash by using variety
of alternative raw material options / mixes to make fly ash interlocking
blocks that are of very good quality and finish. Hydraform machines
made fly ash interlocking blocks have been used at various locations
for making buildings, community centre, school with minimum mortar
and plaster and at some locations even with NO MORTAR & NO
PLASTER!
The manufacturing process of Fly ash blocks / bricks requires fly ash,
coarse sand / stone dust, gypsum and lime (optional) to be added in a
suitable proportion and mixed in a pan mixer. Optimum Water is added.
The mix is hydraulically pressed and water cured for minimum 14 days
to let the block reach full strength over 28 days.
The quality of the bricks - blocks may vary with factors like Quality of
Fly Ash and other raw material, Proportion of mix, mixing and curing.
Recommended quality of raw material is: dry fly ash collected from 1st
or 2nd fields of ESPs, sludge lime - a waste from acetylene industries,
Gypsum of purity of more than 80% and OPC cement.
However other permutation and combination is also possible like Fal G
etc but it advisable to seek professional help wherever required to suit
the local suitability.
Hydraform machine made Fly Ash blocks / bricks are lighter in density
thus saving on the structural cost.
----------------------------=======================-------------------------===========
Raw Material for making blocks
The blocks can be made in Hydraform
machine using Fly ash - Lime - Gypsum
- Cement- Sand, Fal-G or other fly Ash
based tested combination OR SoilCement (compressed Stabilized Earth
Blocks) OR Stone Dust - Cement. We
can provide mixdesign assistance in
this respect. Other option with
Hydraform machine is to make Blocks
using as well.
Mix Design: Although, different mix
designs are possible depending upon
the quality of raw material and strength
required, the blocks can be successfully
made using following options:
Fly ash Cement Block

Fly ash = 35% - 60%

Coarse sand = 35% - 70%
Stabilizer = 5% - 15% (including
lime, cement, gypsum)

Stabilized Earth Block

Soil = 60 - 70%
Coarse sand = 20 - 30%
Cement = 5 - 10%
Note: The exact mix design will vary depending on the nature of fly
ash & soil available and strength required.
Block Strength:
The block strength is determined by Soil / Fly Ash type, quantity of
Cement used and other materials used and the extent of curing after
manufacture of block.
We have obtained results as indicated below:
Soil - Cement Blocks
Fal-G - C. Sand
Cement
Cement Content Strength
Strength
Content
5%
4 to 5 MPa
5%
7 to 8 MPa
10%
7 to 8 MPa
8%
12 to 13 MPa
1 MPa is equal to 10 Kg / Sq. cm
Thermal Quality:
It can be up to 3 times better than conventional brick masonry.
Water Absorption:
Good quality blocks can be made from Hydraform machine to give:
For Fly Ash- Cement: Up to 10%.
For Stabilized Earth Block: Up to 12%.
Block Finish: Block finish is very good and compares even better than
face brick finish. It provides option to keep the wall with or without
plaster. In case of without plaster, the wall could be given a groove
pointing / varnish / sili-coat or tereline coat.
Conduiting: Conduiting can be done using Conduit blocks.
ADVANTAGES OVER CONVENTIONAL BRICK/CONCRETE
MASONRY
Interlocking Blocks save on Mortar & Plaster cost
High Finish Design & Aesthetics
Speedier Construction
Simplicity of Use
Cost Efficient
High Quality Product
Environment Friendly - No Burning of Bricks required
Option to Use Waste materials / Fly Ash / Marble Slurry / Rice
Husk ash / Concrete mix with chips up to 6mm
Minimum mortar required
Independence to make at site of construction
Training and technical support
International proven product used in 45 countries
Can be used without plastering
Lighter than conventional masonry
Suitable for earth quake resistant construction
Local / Unskilled labour can be constructed
Conduits / Plumbing possible

Management of Fly Ash, in the

Context of its Growing Production
By P. C. Mishra and Dr. R. K. Patel
December 2004

The Authors are Research Scholars and Senior Lecturers at the

Departmet of Chemistry of the National Institute of Technology
in Rourkela, India, one of the premier national level institutions
for technical education in the country.

Abstract
(Fly ash: the waste of thermal power plant.)
Fly ash is a major byproduct of Thermal power plant, which makes a lot of
pollution to the environment due to its fineness. As a large amount of fly ash
is dumped in the nearby places of power plants it mixes in all segment of
environment like water, air as well as soil. Though it can be utilized for
different useful purposes due to lake of technical know how and proper
motivation no progress has been made in its utilization. It has been
observed that the fly ash can be used for making a varieties of building
materials by using simple low cost or high investment processes. The
strength of the bricks increases with increasing time. More over it can be use
in its optimal quantity for better production of crops like rice, wheat etc.
Key Words: - Fly ash, Thermal Power Plant, Conventional clay bricks, Curing,
water bearing capacity, comprehensive modalities

Introduction
Fly ash is a major by product of thermal power plant. It is a very fine material
about 60-70% of which has a size below 0.076 mm. as it is formed by the
burning of pulverized coal. The disposal of such fly ash is creating a serious
problem as per its storage space and cost involved in its storage. At the same
time there is a lot of pollution of the environment due to the fineness of the
fly ash. The effects for its utilization for many gainful purposes have been
made since late sixties of this century by various research institutions and
public enterprises, but nothing spectacular has really been seen yet in
commercial utilities. The present utilization of the fly ash is about 2% of the
total generation. For the present development scenario of India, one of the
thrust area is infrastructure where generation of power holds major share. It
is estimated that at present about 125 million tonnes of fly ash is generated
every year from 82 thermal power plants. This amount will reach 200 million
tonnes very soon. The fly ash disposal is going to be a major problem in near
future.

Materials & Methods

The fly ash or pulverised fuel ash is formed as a result of burning pulverised
coal. The principal contents of fly ash are normally silica (30-60%), alumina
(15-30%), iron oxide and carbon in the form of unburnt fuel up to 20%, lime
7% and small quantities of magnesium oxide and sulphate. Indian coals
normally contain 25 to 40% ash. The main problem of utilization of fly ash
comes from the unburnt carbon as it has no binding force or any other
properties which can be utilize other than the fuel. The fly ash samples are
collected from Nandira seam (Talcher), Bharatpur seam (NALCO) and power
plant (Rourkela Steel Plant). The fly ash are analysed by standard methods
and the data are summerised in Table - 1
Table - 1
Compounds

Nandira seam,
Talcher

Bharatpur seam,
NALCO

Power plant,
RSP

SiO2

53.6

55.7

59.2

Al2O3

18.3

18.2

17.9

Fe2O3

12.7

11.2

9.5

CaO

3.8

2.5

3.2

MgO

1.2

1.9

1.3

Sulphate

1.3

0.9

1.2

Unburnt
carbon

7.2

7.5

7.0

Other oxides 1.9

2.1

0.7

Results and Discussion

The fly ash can be used for making a verity of building materials, some using
simple low cost processes and others high investment processes producing
high quality products. They can also be used as fertilizer. The fly ash is
processed to increase the surface area by grinding and to remove and reduce
the unburnt carbon. This fly ash so produced is activated fly ash and gives
superior engineering properties like higher crushing strength and are more
reactive with lime or cement. It can be blended uniformly to give portlant
pozzolana cement. It can be mixed directly with lime to give desired
properties of mortar or concrete, as required. Fly ash can be mixed in varied
proportions with lime or portland cement to give blends for better
engineering properties.
Through it may give only 60% comprehensive strength of protland cement it
will get to be on par with portland cement after 28 days and exceed its
strength after three months. Due to its silicate base it encumbrance
hydration of cement. Considering its affinity towards lime, it eliminates alkali
aggregate reaction which is often the base of ordinary portland cement. It is
highly resistant to sulphate attack hence advantageous along the sea shore.
The activated pozzolona has finer surface structure resulting in low porosity.
Its lower water demand makes it safer bet in mass concrete constructions
such as dams. Since it liberates low heat on hydration, it gives better
strength and lasts longer. It is known as low heat cement and because of this
property, it accounts for its affinity to be free from creaks, provided curing
process is faultless. Amongst building materials made out of fly ash, the pride
of place goes to bricks. No fuel, no water or steam is required in producing fly
ash bricks. The compressive strength of bricks made from fly ash is twice that
of burnt clay bricks. In addition, this will prevent the precious top soil being
destroyed as in the case of clay bricks. The chances of breakage while
handling are as low as 1 to 2% as against 12 to 15% in the case of clay
bricks. The fly ash bricks are more resistant to salinity, water seepate, have
minimal air and liquid pollution, ingress hazards and are more economical.
These cost only Rs. 650/- per thousand bricks as against Rs.800/- to Rs.1000/per thousand conventional clay bricks. Cable tiles are being sold @ Rs. 1.80
against Rs. 4/- burnt brick tile. The fly ash can be used for making a variety of
building products, some using simple low cost processes and others high
investment processes, producing high quality product such as

1. Clay fly ash bricks

20 to 50% fly ash depending upon the quality of soil, can be mixed
with clay to produce burnt clay fly ash bricks. The green bricks are
dried and fired in conventional kilns to obtain red clay fly ash bricks.
Logistic problems of getting fly ash at the brick kilns or getting land
near power stations to make bricks there have prevented
commercialization of the technology.

2. Compacted mud fly ash bricks.

Compacted mud fly ash bricks stabilised with lime, cement and other
chemicals can be made easily. Adoption of this technology has been
found to be somewhere difficult due to the problem of dry fly ash at
the site.

3. Calcium silicate bricks.

Utilisation of fly ash in place of quartz sands in sandlime bricks
produces the calcium silicate bricks. The process involves compaction
either by low pressure or high pressure followed by autoclaving under
elevated hydrothermal conditions. The product from high pressure
compacting is much superior but requires larger capital investment.

4. Portland Pozzolona Cement (PPC)

10 to 20% dry fly ash can be mixed with clinker during manufacture of
cement or blended with finished ordinary portland cement to produce

portland pozzolona cement. PPC requires more setting time than

ordinary portland cement but strength is comparable with it .

5. Cellular cement

Lightweight aerated concrete or cellular concrete can be manufactured

by a process involving mixing of fly ash, quick lime or cement or
gypsum in a high-speed mixer to form a slurry. A small amount of
foaming agents such as aluminium powder is added and mixed into
slurry liberating hydrogen gas. The aerated slurry is poured in steel
moulds and allowed to set. The blocks are removed after the initial
setting and autoclaved at steam pressure. After autoclaving the blocks
are allowed to cool and stacked for use. They are considered as
excellent products for wall blocks and prefab floor slabs. The initial
heavy investment and resistance to adoption by users has inhibited
the commercialization of this technology.

6. Sintered lightweight aggregate.

This is produced by pelletisation or nodulisation of fly ash and sintering

of the pallets or nodules at 1000 - 1300 degree centigrade. Unburnt
fuel in fly ash nodules supports ignition. Sintered light weight
aggregate substitutes stone chips in concrete, reducing dead weight.

Production of Fly ash bricks: Technology of manufacture

For production of good quality fly ash bricks, the quality of fly ash should be
as under:
a. It should be either dry or moist {containing moisture not more than 5
%}
b. Visual appearance should be light steel grey or smoky grey in colour.
The brownish or light yellowish grey colour fly ash is of inferior quality.
c. The fly ash should be very fine and can pass through 200 mesh sieve.
d. The unburnt carbon in fly ash with negligible fraction is tolerable for
use.

Method:
Raw Materials:
Fly ash
Lime
Gypsum
Sand
Set accelerator
A mix of the ingredients is prepared by intimate mixing in suitable
blender/mixer. Manual mixing will not give the desired results and hence
hand mixing should be avoided. This mix ultimately gives comprehensive
strength of 80 - 110 kg/cm2 fly ash bricks. The water, bricks mix ratio be
maintained between 6 to 7 %. This percentage changes with different mix
raw material ratio. For moulding the bricks, many types of machineries of
indigenous make are available. They are :
1. Manual press (with power)
2. Vibro press (with power)
3. Hydraulic press, with or without vibration.
4. Screw press with or without wire cutting arrangement.
5. Tampering hand moulding machines
Selection of machinery depends on the bricks mix contents. For
manufacturing fly ash lime stabilised bricks, the best suited machinery is
virbo - press machine, which is an indigenous low cost machine and can be
run by ordinary semiskilled worker. Its production capacity is 1000 bricks per
shift and can be operated for two shifts without any operation/maintenance
load. The maintenance cost is so low that it can be ignored. 15 lakh bricks
can be produced for each machine in its life cycle.
Curing:

The stabilized bricks after moulding are further hardened by curing. The
chemical changes occur in the bricks mix contents after moulding and heat of
hydration is evolved. The rate of the effect of heat of hydration is mitigated
and lowered with sufficient water in alkali solution is provided to accelerate
pozzolanic reaction. There are different process of curing.
1. Steam curing under high pressure {normally called autoclaved curing}
2. Steam curing under normal pressure
3. Hot water dip curing
4. Hot water air curing
5. Water tank curing
6. Water curing in open air.
The cost of curing in all the processes varies and minimum cost involvement
is in "water curing in open air" and maximum cost involvement is in
"autoclaved pressurised curing". Water is heated by low cost solar collector
and further increase in temperature of water is made by covering the brick
stack by black tarpaulin, after watering the stack by hot water from solar
collector. Unpressurised hot water vapours are produced and the vapours are
allowed to pass through the whole stacks between individual bricks. It
accelerates the pozzolanic reaction and reduced final time.
Process:
1. Various raw materials of brick mix in desired proportion are blended
intimately in dry or wet form. Water/brick-mix ratio is maintained as
explained above.
2. The wet brick-mix is fed into the machine mould. The vibration is given
for a while and the mould is again fed. The striper head is pressed and
vibration is given simultaneously for about 8 seconds. The mould is
lifted and bricks produced pallet is removed and kept on the platform
for air drying.
3. Next day the bricks produced on the previous day are put in the stack.
The stack is formed with care to see that curing water and air for
drying reach to every brick.
4. After 3 days the hot water from the solar collector in small quantity is
poured on the fresh stack without any pressure.
5. After 5 days the solar collector water is poured on the bricks stack for 2
times a day.
6. The bricks in stack after each watering are immediately covered with
black PVC tarpaulin, with a clear space of 250 mm form the layers of
the bricks, inside the closed cover.
7. The curing is continued for 15 days and the tarpaulin cover is removed.
The bricks are then left in the stack for drying or heating the bricks
stack.
8. The bricks are ready for despatch after 22 days from the date of
manufacture.
9. The comprehensive strength of the bricks produced from the brick-mix
and the manufacturing process suggested here in, will be 80kg/cm 2
to100 kg/cm2.
It is observed that the fly ash bricks produced are found to be superior then
that of conventional Red burnt clay bricks. The fly ash bricks confirm to the
Indian standard IS : 3495 - 1966. The technical comparison of fly ash bricks
verses red burnt clay bricks are given in Table - 2.
Table - 2
Index

Fly Ash Bricks

Red Burned Clay Bricks

Size (mm)

225 x 112.5x75

225 x 112.5x75

Dry Density (kg/m)

1570

1700

Cold Crushing

170

100

13 to 15

20

Strength (kg/m)
Water Absorption (%)

More over they can also be used in the manufacture of mosaic tiles, plain
tiles, prestressed roofing steps, thermal insulation bricks and road subgrades.
Conclusion
The results of the present study indicate that Fly ash can be used for different
useful purposes. It can be used for manufacture of a varieties of building
materials. Proper know how and motivation can make uses of fly ash which
reduces the pollution load. It can also be used for growing production of food
crops but it require a comprehensive modalities.