Analyzing the effects of pickling sludge and fly ash valorized cement sand bricks

Abstract The disposal of Stainless-Steel Pickling Sludge (SSPS) in landfills remains an important issue. Utilizing SSPS as construction material mitigates the negative environmental effects associated with its disposal, providing a sustainable solution. This study investigates co-utilization of SSPS...

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Main Authors: Amit Bhomia, Srikanta Routroy, Anupam Singhal, Rahul Samyal
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: Nature Portfolio 2025-07-01
Series:Scientific Reports
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Online Access:https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-025-08359-7
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author Amit Bhomia
Srikanta Routroy
Anupam Singhal
Rahul Samyal
author_facet Amit Bhomia
Srikanta Routroy
Anupam Singhal
Rahul Samyal
author_sort Amit Bhomia
collection DOAJ
description Abstract The disposal of Stainless-Steel Pickling Sludge (SSPS) in landfills remains an important issue. Utilizing SSPS as construction material mitigates the negative environmental effects associated with its disposal, providing a sustainable solution. This study investigates co-utilization of SSPS and fly ash as partial substitution of river sand on cement sand bricks properties. Nine cement sand bricks compositions, including control mix, were prepared with varying composition of SSPS, fly ash and river sand. Four compositions were developed with SSPS varied from 2.5 to 10% with fixed fly ash content of 50%. Four additional compositions with varying fly ash content from 40 to 47.5% and varying SSPS 2.5–10% content as partial substitution of river sand were prepared. The developed bricks demonstrated that gradual increment of SSPS (2.5–10%) and reduction of fly ash (47.5–40%) proved incremental to the compressive strength up to 28 MPa. In addition, the morphological analysis using Scanning Electron Microscopy (SEM), X-ray Diffraction (XRD) and X-ray Fluorescence (XRF) were conducted for the compositions. The microstructure analysis showed that with inclusion of fly ash, Mix 2 (M2) compositions revealed a dense microstructure validating the sorptivity results as compared to Mix 1 (M1) compositions. Finally, the cost estimation of the waste valorized bricks as compared to the control bricks was observed to be significantly low. The experiment outcomes concluded adoption of SSPS-fly ash waste valorized bricks as a greener alternative to disposal.
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spelling doaj-art-0de2cb87cc9e4d5d888a4d9c66a72a542025-08-20T03:37:31ZengNature PortfolioScientific Reports2045-23222025-07-0115111510.1038/s41598-025-08359-7Analyzing the effects of pickling sludge and fly ash valorized cement sand bricksAmit Bhomia0Srikanta Routroy1Anupam Singhal2Rahul Samyal3Department of Mechanical Engineering, Birla Institute of Technology & ScienceDepartment of Mechanical Engineering, Birla Institute of Technology & ScienceDepartment of Civil Engineering, Birla Institute of Technology & ScienceDepartment of Mechanical Engineering, Birla Institute of Technology & ScienceAbstract The disposal of Stainless-Steel Pickling Sludge (SSPS) in landfills remains an important issue. Utilizing SSPS as construction material mitigates the negative environmental effects associated with its disposal, providing a sustainable solution. This study investigates co-utilization of SSPS and fly ash as partial substitution of river sand on cement sand bricks properties. Nine cement sand bricks compositions, including control mix, were prepared with varying composition of SSPS, fly ash and river sand. Four compositions were developed with SSPS varied from 2.5 to 10% with fixed fly ash content of 50%. Four additional compositions with varying fly ash content from 40 to 47.5% and varying SSPS 2.5–10% content as partial substitution of river sand were prepared. The developed bricks demonstrated that gradual increment of SSPS (2.5–10%) and reduction of fly ash (47.5–40%) proved incremental to the compressive strength up to 28 MPa. In addition, the morphological analysis using Scanning Electron Microscopy (SEM), X-ray Diffraction (XRD) and X-ray Fluorescence (XRF) were conducted for the compositions. The microstructure analysis showed that with inclusion of fly ash, Mix 2 (M2) compositions revealed a dense microstructure validating the sorptivity results as compared to Mix 1 (M1) compositions. Finally, the cost estimation of the waste valorized bricks as compared to the control bricks was observed to be significantly low. The experiment outcomes concluded adoption of SSPS-fly ash waste valorized bricks as a greener alternative to disposal.https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-025-08359-7Waste managementPerformance analysisScanning Electron microscopy (SEM)Microstructural analysisStainless-steel pickling sludge
spellingShingle Amit Bhomia
Srikanta Routroy
Anupam Singhal
Rahul Samyal
Analyzing the effects of pickling sludge and fly ash valorized cement sand bricks
Scientific Reports
Waste management
Performance analysis
Scanning Electron microscopy (SEM)
Microstructural analysis
Stainless-steel pickling sludge
title Analyzing the effects of pickling sludge and fly ash valorized cement sand bricks
title_full Analyzing the effects of pickling sludge and fly ash valorized cement sand bricks
title_fullStr Analyzing the effects of pickling sludge and fly ash valorized cement sand bricks
title_full_unstemmed Analyzing the effects of pickling sludge and fly ash valorized cement sand bricks
title_short Analyzing the effects of pickling sludge and fly ash valorized cement sand bricks
title_sort analyzing the effects of pickling sludge and fly ash valorized cement sand bricks
topic Waste management
Performance analysis
Scanning Electron microscopy (SEM)
Microstructural analysis
Stainless-steel pickling sludge
url https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-025-08359-7
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AT srikantaroutroy analyzingtheeffectsofpicklingsludgeandflyashvalorizedcementsandbricks
AT anupamsinghal analyzingtheeffectsofpicklingsludgeandflyashvalorizedcementsandbricks
AT rahulsamyal analyzingtheeffectsofpicklingsludgeandflyashvalorizedcementsandbricks