Wool scouring effluent treatment sludge disposal in brick production

The characteristics of sludges coming from biological and/or chemical treatment of wool scouring wastewater seem to make their utilization as raw material in brick production avoiding the cost of usual landfill disposal. As their low calorific value is in the range of 1500-2500 kJ/kg the heat content can be recovered completely in the kiln. The particle size distribution of the dirt was measured both in sludge and in raw wool and trials were carried out using blends of sludge and virgin clay in brick production.The satisfactory results justified a scale-up and the system has been in operation since 1984 in Italy as industrial assessment in a brick manufactoring company using sludge coming from a combing mill 70 km away. The industrial tests showed a further energy saving in brick wiredrawing , by increasing the smoothness of the blend and induced the company to start the continual full-scale use of the sludge at the rate of about 15,000 tons/year.