Waste Management 29 (2009) 1330–1335

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Waste Management
journal homepage: www.elsevier.com/locate/wasman

Development of lightweight aggregate from dry sewage sludge

and coal ash
Xingrun Wang a,b, Yiying Jin b,*, Zhiyu Wang b, Yongfeng Nie b,
Qifei Huang a, Qi Wang a
a
Chinese Research Academy of Environmental Science, Beijing 100012, China
b
Department of Environmental Science and Engineering, Tsinghua University, Beijing 100084, China

a r t i c l e i n f o a b s t r a c t

Article history: In this study, dry sewage sludge (DSS) as the principal material was blended with coal ash (CA) to pro-
Accepted 22 September 2008 duce lightweight aggregate. The effects of different raw material compositions and sintering tempera-
Available online 12 November 2008 tures on the aggregate properties were then evaluated. In addition, an environmental assessment of
the lightweight aggregate generated was conducted by analyzing the fixed rate of heavy metals in the
aggregate, as well as their leaching behavior. The results indicated that using DSS enhanced the pyroly-
sis–volatilization reaction due to its high organic matter content, and decreased the bulk density and sin-
tering temperature. However, the sintered products of un-amended DSS were porous and loose due to the
formation of large pores during sintering. Adding CA improved the sintering temperature while effec-
tively decreasing the pore size and increasing the compressive strength of the product. Furthermore,
the sintering temperature and the proportion of CA were found to be the primary factors affecting the
properties of the sintered products, and the addition of 18–25% of CA coupled with sintering at
1100 °C for 30 min produced the highest quality lightweight aggregates. In addition, heavy metals were
fixed inside products generated under these conditions and the As, Pb, Cd, Cr, Ni, Cu, and Zn concentra-
tions of the leachate were found to be within the limits of China’s regulatory requirements.
Ó 2008 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

1. Introduction should be similar to clay and satisfy the following requirements:

Due to the rapid growth of wastewater output and the rein-
forcement of the regulations on its treatment in China, sewage
sludge, as an inevitable by-product of the treatment process of
wastewater, is increasing very fast. In 2005, the daily output of
dry sewage sludge in China was 8000 tonnes, and this value has
been increasing at an average rate of 10% per year. To date, sewage
sludge has primarily been disposed of by two methods, landfilling
and soil application. However, landfilling may no longer be appro-
priate due to the scarcity of land and increasingly stringent envi-
ronmental controls (Merino et al., 2007). In addition, the
presence of heavy metals in the sewage sludge makes soil applica-
tion difficult due to the potential for contamination of the aquatic
and terrestrial environments (Kim et al., 2005). Therefore, it is
imperative to investigate new environmentally sustainable appli-
cations for this type of waste.
Ceramic is a kind of lightweight aggregate that can be used to
produce concrete mixtures. It is currently common to use clay to
produce ceramic (Jordán et al., 1999). To get fine lightweight
aggregate, the chemical composition of the raw material used
* Corresponding author. Tel.: +86 10 62794697; fax: +86 10 62789748.
E-mail address: jinyy@mail.tsinghua.edu.cn (Y. Jin).
SiO2 48–70%; Al2O3 8–25%; Fe2O3 + FeO 3–12%; CaO + MgO 1–
12%; K2O + Na2O 0.5–7% (Riley, 1950). The characteristics of sew-
age sludge are similar to that of clay, and the total lightweight
aggregate output in China in 2004 is about 420 million m3. There-
fore, the use of sewage sludge as a possible substitute for clay has
the potential to provide plenty of raw materials while reducing the
consumption of clay. At the same time, the environmental impact
caused by sewage sludge can also be reduced.
Previous studies conducted to evaluate the production of light-
weight aggregate from sewage sludge have focused on the use of
dewatered sewage sludge (Elkins et al., 1985; Tay et al., 1991;
Tay and Show, 1997) or sewage sludge incineration ash (Wiebusch
and Seyfried, 1997; Wainwright and Cresswell, 2001; Endo et al.,
1997). However, the results of these studies showed that, when
un-amended dewatered sewage sludge is used, porous and loose
aggregates are produced due to the high organic matter and water
content (e.g., approximately 10% and 80%, respectively). Indeed, to
obtain a fine lightweight aggregate from sewage sludge, the pro-
portion of dewatered sewage sludge in the raw materials can be
no greater than 30% (Yan, 2005); therefore, the use of dewatered
sewage sludge is not a feasible method for the disposal of the total
output of sewage sludge in China. Conversely, when only sewage
sludge ash is used, two heat treatment technologies, combustion

0956-053X/$ - see front matter Ó 2008 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.
doi:10.1016/j.wasman.2008.09.006
 X. Wang et al. / Waste Management 29 (2009) 1330–1335 1331

and sintering, are required. The need for both of these technologies
increases the cost of construction and operation, and results in
more energy being consumed during production due to the lower
level of organic matter in the starting materials (Chiou et al.,
2006). Therefore, this study was conducted to evaluate the feasibil-
ity of using DSS as the primary material for the production of light-
weight aggregates. Because sewage sludge contains a lower
content of SiO2 and Al2O3 than is required to produce a lightweight
aggregate, CA was introduced as an additive. Specifically, we eval-
uated the effects of adding 10–32% CA to DSS and then sintering
the mixtures at 1050–1100 °C to determine if ceramic could be
produced. In addition, we evaluated the fixed rate and leaching
behavior of the heavy metals in the generated products to deter-
mine if they were environmentally safe.
2. Materials and methods
2.1. Sintering ceramic product
The sewage sludge used in this study was obtained from a mu-
nicipal wastewater treatment plant in Beijing. The sludge was
dewatered mechanically via a belt press, dried in a stove at a tem-
perature of 105 °C for 24 h, after which it was pulverized with a
ball mill until it could pass through a 45-mm sieve. CA was col-
lected from the Beijing Power Plant and dried in a stove at
105 °C for 24 h and then pulverized with a ball mill until it could
pass through a 45-mm sieve.
Five different weight percentages of CA to DSS were evaluated:
0%, 10%, 18%, 25% and 32% (SA, SB, SC, SD and SE, respectively). The
materials were finely mixed using a roll-shaker for 24 h and then
shaped into cylindrical specimens with a diameter of 20.4 mm
and a height of 14 mm by uniaxial pressing at a pressure of
8 MPa. The cylinders were then sintered in an electric kiln at tem-
peratures ranging from 1050 to 1100 °C for 30 min. A ramp rate of
9 °C/min was used during the sintering process. In addition, the
temperature was held at 420 °C for 20 min during sintering to al-
low pyrolysis and volatilization of the organic matter to ensure
that the bulk density of the sintered products was low.
The mechanical quality of the sintered products was estimated
by testing the compressive strength, the bulk density and the 1-h
water absorption rate. For the compressive strength test, a single
sintered product was pressed down by a steel puncheon until it
was crushed. The compressive strength was then calculated by
measuring the ratio between the load and the surface area of the
sintered product, in stress units. The values of 1-h water absorp-
tion (h) and bulk density (q) were obtained using the following
formulas:
m1  m0
h ¼ 100  ð1Þ
m0
where m1 is the 1-h saturated surface-dry weight of the ceramic
bodies (g) and m0 is the dry weight of the ceramic bodies (g)
m
q¼ ð2Þ
V
where m is the weight of the ceramic bodies (g) and V is the volume
of the ceramic bodies (cm3).
After being crushed, the sintered products were evaluated by
scanning electron microscopy using a JSM-6460LV scanning elec-
tron microscope.
In addition, the concentration of a variety of heavy metals in the
products before and after sintering, including As, Cd, Cr, Cu, Ni, Pb
and Zn, was determined according to an ASTM method after the
products were digested (ASTM, 2000; Wan et al., 2006). The heavy
metals were measured by inductively coupled plasma mass spec-
trometry (ICP-MS, Perkin–Elmer Elan 6000, USA).
The fixed rate of the heavy metals was defined as the ratio of the
weight of heavy metals in the products prior to sintering to that of
the products after sintering.
The standard method for determining the leaching toxicity of
solid wastes by horizontal vibration extraction procedure (HVEP)
(GB5086.2, 1997) was used to evaluate the leaching of heavy met-
als from the product.
3. Results and discussion
3.1. Properties of the materials

2.2. Characterization
DSS and CA were analyzed to determine the fractions of ash and
total organic matters, as well as the contents of carbon, hydrogen,
nitrogen and sulfur, and the calorific heating values. All analyses
were conducted using standardized methods for fuel analyses.
Following combustion at 600 °C for 3 h, the chemical composi-
tions of both the DSS and CA, including the P, Si, Ca, Mg, Fe, Al, K,
Na and S contents, were determined using an X-ray fluorescence
spectrometer (XRF, Shimadzu Lab Center XRF-1700, Japan).
The results of the fuel analysis of DSS and CA are shown in Table
1. For DSS, the heating value was nearly equal to that of peat,
which is widely used as a support fuel in power plants. Therefore,
the use of DSS to produce ceramic products can reduce the con-
sumption of fuel. In addition, the total organic matter content
was found to be very high, which indicates that the sintered prod-
ucts should be lightweight due to the release of organic matters
during sintering. However, the sulfur content was also found to
be relatively high, indicating that a sulfur removal procedure
would be required to remediate the flue gas.

Table 1
Fuel analyses of DSS and CA.

Ash Total organic matter Carbon Hydrogen Nitrogen Sulfur Calorific heating value
(w-%(dry)) (w-%(dry)) (w-%(dry)) (w-%(dry)) (w-%(dry)) (w-%(dry)) (kcal/kg(dry))
DSS 27.15 65.36 28.06 4.20 3.64 1.72 3609.21
CA 92.72 8.28 6.65 0.53 0.19 0.81 12.52

Table 2
Chemical composition of DSS and CA.

Composition P2O5 SiO2 Al2O3 CaO MgO Fe2O3 K2O Na2O TiO2 SO3 MnO
DSS ash (w-%) 32.98 24.37 7.95 10.69 10.68 6.09 5.33 0.34 0.73 0.22 0.11
CA (w-%) 0.5 49.55 37.4 3.48 0.98 4.87 1.02 0.12 1.67 0.24 0.04
1332 X. Wang et al. / Waste Management 29 (2009) 1330–1335
Table 2 shows the chemical composition of DSS and CA deter-
mined by XRF after combustion at 600 °C for 3 h. The DSS ash
was found to contain large amounts of P2O5 and SiO2 (32.98%
and 24.37%, respectively). In addition, the DSS ash contained CaO
(10.69%), MgO (10.68%), Al2O3 (7.95%), Fe2O3 (6.09%) and K2O
(5.33%). The contents of all other oxides were less than 1%. The typ-
ical composition of CA was found to be SiO2 and Al2O3, which were
present in concentrations of 49.55% and 37.4%, respectively. The
melting points of CaO, MgO, Fe2O3 and K2O are all very low when
compared with those of SiO2 and Al2O3; therefore, they are usually
used as fusing agents in the production of lightweight aggregates.
Conversely, SiO2 and Al2O3 are usually used to improve the
strength of sintered products. Taken together, these results indi-
cate that DSS has a lower melting temperature than CA.
3.2. Properties of the sintered products
3.2.1. SEM observation of the sintered products
Fig. 1 shows the microstructure of the SA sintered products fol-
lowing sintering at 1050 and 1080 °C, respectively, as determined
by scanning electron microscope (SEM). Fig. 1a and b clearly shows
that the surface of the sintered SA appears to become sintered
bonding with many large pores caused by the volatilization of or-
ganic matter in the DSS during the preheating stage. Although the
generation of large pores will cause the sintered product to have a
lightweight property, large pores will also decrease the compres-
sive strength of the sintered products. When the sintering temper-
ature was increased to 1080 °C, more small pores gathered with
the appearance of prominent apertures (Fig. 1c and d). Fig. 1 also
revealed that the melting temperature of DSS is approximately
Fig. 1. SEM micrographs of SA sintered products at 1050 and 1080 °C.
1050 °C, which is very low compared with that of clay. This low
melting temperature is due to the high content of CaO, MgO,
Fe2O3 and K2O in DSS. Therefore, the use of DSS to produce light-
weight aggregate requires a lower sintering temperature than clay,
which would reduce fuel consumption during production. How-
ever, due to the high content of organic matters in SA, many large
pores form in the sintered products. Therefore, SA must be
amended with other materials.
As seen in Fig. 2a and b, the sintered product of SB also con-
tained many large pores. However, as CA was added, the pores be-
came smaller and more homogeneous, as shown in Fig. 2c–f. These
findings indicate that increasing the amount of CA can effectively
decrease the pore size of the sintered products due to the lower or-
ganic matter content, as was observed in SC and SD. This reduction
in pore size consequently enhances the compressive strength.
However, CA contains a high concentration of SiO2 and Al2O3 (Ta-
ble 2); therefore, the melting temperature is improved with the
addition of CA. When starting materials that contain greater than
25% CA, such as SE, are used, they cannot be properly sintered at
this temperature. This was demonstrated by the presence of a
powdery film on the surface of the sintered SE.
3.2.2. Water absorption of the sintered products
The quality of the sintered products has a fundamental relation-
ship with the absorption of water, which is also a function of the
compressive strength and bulk density of the sintered products
(Wang et al., 1998). As shown in Fig. 3a, when the sintering tem-
perature was 1050 °C, the water absorption of the sintered SB de-
creased to 3.65%, whereas the water absorptions of the sintered SC,
SD and SE ranged from 23.26% to 63.25%. Furthermore, when the
 X. Wang et al. / Waste Management 29 (2009) 1330–1335 1333

Fig. 2. SEM micrographs of SB, SC, SD and SE sintered products at 1100 °C.
1334 X. Wang et al. / Waste Management 29 (2009) 1330–1335
Fig. 3. Changes in aggregate properties of SB, SC, SD and SE sintered products.
sintering temperature was 1080, the water absorption of the sin-
tered SC was less than 8%. Finally, when the sintering temperature
was 1100 °C, the water absorption of the sintered SD decreased to
6.21%, while the water absorption of the SE sintered product was
only reduced to 27.36%. Taken together, these findings indicate
that the sewage sludge has a low sintering temperature, and,
therefore, the sintered product has a low water absorption rate.
Increasing the proportion of CA improves the sintering tempera-
ture, and increases the water absorption rate. This was demon-
strated by SC and SD being completely sintered after being
heated to 1100 °C for 30 min.
3.2.3. Bulk density of the sintered products
Fig. 3b shows the relationship between sintering temperature
and bulk density. For SB, sintering was possible at 1050 °C. This re-
sulted in the formation of a glass phase on the surface, which pre-
vented the density from changing when the sintering temperature
was increased to 1100 °C. However, when SC and SD were sub-
jected to sintering at 1050 °C, the surface of the sintered products
had a particulate nature and the bulk density was very low, rang-
ing from 1.14 to 1.28 g/cm3. The bulk density and particulate nat-
ure of these products indicate that 1050 °C is not sufficient to
Fig. 4. Appearance of SC, SD and SE sintered products.
sinter SC and SD. When the sintering temperature was 1080 °C,
the bulk density of the SC and SD sintered products increased sig-
nificantly to 1.48–1.54 g/cm3. In addition, sintered bonding ap-
peared on the surface of the sintered products (Fig. 4a and b),
and their volume decreased due to the presence of the liquid
phase, facilitating densification. At higher temperatures, only a
slight change in bulk density was observed (1.46–1.51 g/cm3). Fi-
nally, the sintered SE products had a particulate nature (Fig. 4c)
and a bulk density that was less than 1.3 g/cm3 when the sintering
temperature was between 1050 °C and 1100 °C, indicating that SE
requires a higher temperature to be sintered.
3.2.4. Compressive strength of the sintered products
The compressive strengths of the SB, SC, SD and SE sintered
products are shown in Fig. 3c. For the SB sintered products, the
compressive strengths at 1050 °C, 1080 °C and 1100 °C were only
6.95, 8.82 and 9.96 MPa, respectively. This is due to the high vol-
ume of large pores in the sintered products, as shown in Fig. 2a
and b. Additionally, when the SC was sintered at 1050 °C, the com-
pressive strength of its sintered product was only 10.68 MPa. How-
ever, when SC was sintered at 1100 °C, its compressive strength
was increased significantly to 19.3 MPa. This is likely because den-
sification and sintering occurred at 1100 °C, and the pores in the
sintered products of SC are smaller and more homogeneous, as
shown in Fig. 2c and d. For the SD sintered products, the compres-
sive strength of the products that were sintered at 1050 °C and
1080 °C were only 3.45 and 9.03 MPa, respectively. This may have
been because these temperatures were lower than the sintering
temperature of the SD, which resulted in its particulate nature.
Conversely, when the SD was sintered at 1100 °C, its compressive
strength was 23.69 MPa, indicating the occurrence of densification
and the appearance of a glass phase. Finally, when the SE sintered
products were sintered at 1050 °C, 1080 °C, and 1100 °C, the com-
pressive strengths were all less than 15 MPa. This demonstrates
that the sintering temperature of the SE is greater than 1100 °C,
as indicated by the powdery film on the surface of the sintered
products (Fig. 2g and h).
3.3. Properties of heavy metals
3.3.1. Fixed rate of heavy metals
Fig. 5 shows the fixed rates of heavy metals after sintering
products that contained 25% CA at 1100 °C for 30 min. Three par-
Fig. 5. Fixed rate and vapored rate of heavy metals for sintered products.
 X. Wang et al. / Waste Management 29 (2009) 1330–1335 1335

Table 3
HVEP-results of heavy metals in sintered products before and after sintering.

As Cd Cr Cu Ni Pb Zn
Leaching concentration (mg/L) 0.001 0.001 0.022 0.058 0.009 0.056 0.279
Leaching rate (%) 0.13 0.41 0.18 0.20 0.13 0.56 0.33
Identification standard for hazardous wastes (mg/L) (GB5085.3, 1996) 61.5 60.3 610 650 610 63 650
Environmental quality standards for surface water III (mg/L) (GB3838, 2002) 60.05 60.005 60.05 61 60.02 60.05 61

allel samples were researched. With the exception of Pb, only a
small amount of the heavy metals were volatilized during the sin-
tering process, and the fixed rates were all greater than 60%. A
greater amount of Pb was volatilized due to its low boiling point,
and its fixed rate was 37.6%. At the same time, Pb is the primary
heavy metal present in sewage sludge in China; therefore, addi-
tional steps must be taken to control Pb volatilization during
sintering.
3.3.2. Leaching characteristics of heavy metals
The HVEP results of As, Cd, Cr, Cu, Ni, Pb and Zn analysis of the
product produced by sintering the SD at 1100 °C for 30 min are
shown in Table 3. The leaching rates of the heavy metals were all
lower than 1% and the leaching concentrations were all in compli-
ance with the China Identification Standard for Hazardous Wastes
and the China Environmental Quality Standards for Surface Water.
Therefore, these results indicate that sintering generally reduces
the leaching concentration for all of the heavy metals evaluated
here, and that the use of lightweight aggregate produced from
DSS does not pose an environmental risk.
4. Conclusions
Based on the results of this study, the following conclusions can
be drawn:
1. The SiO2 and Al2O3 contents in DSS are lower than the require-
ments for lightweight aggregates. Besides, the sintered products
produced using pure DSS are porous and loose, and have a low
compressive strength due to high organic matter content.
Therefore, it is necessary to amend DSS with a material that
has a high SiO2 and Al2O3 content, such as CA, in order for it
to be sintered.
2. DSS has a low sintering temperature of 1050 °C due to its high
CaO, MgO, Fe2O3 and K2O content. However, the addition of CA
improves the sintering temperature, while effectively decreas-
ing the pore size of the sintered products and increasing the
compressive strength.
3. When DSS and CA are used to sinter lightweight aggregates, the
factors affecting the properties of the sintered products were
the sintering temperature, the retention period and the raw
material mixture rate, in that order.
4. A mixture containing 18–25% of CA that was preheated at
420 °C for 20 min and then sintered at 1100 °C for 30 min pro-
duced high quality lightweight aggregates. The leaching con-
centrations of the sintered products were all in compliance
with the China Identification Standard for hazardous wastes
and China Environmental Quality Standards for surface water.
Acknowledgments
This work was supported by the national Key Technologies R
and D Program of China (No. 2006BAC02A19), and we received
considerable cooperation from Tsinghua University. All the support
is greatly appreciated.
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