Sustainable use of tannery sludge in brick manufacturing in Bangladesh

Chromium-rich tannery sludge generated from tanneries has the potential to become a serious environmental burden in Bangladesh and a promising avenue for disposal of this sludge is by stabilizing it in clay brick products. But for sustainable industrial application of such technique it needs to be ensured first that the engineering properties of bricks as a building material are not diminished by addition of sludge, the process becomes energy efficient compared to alternatives and the use of such bricks do not pose any harmful environmental effects in the long run. In this study, clay bricks were prepared with different proportions of sludge (10%, 20%, 30% and 40% by dry weight) in both laboratory-controlled and field conditions and their suitability as…