Incorporation of residues from the minero-metallurgical industry in the production of clay–lime brick

Industrial processes such as the extraction and processing of building and dimension stone and the manufacturing of ferroalloys generate large amounts of waste, which can cause environmental damage. Therefore, the development of new techniques for recycling and reusing industrial waste would be useful for minimizing the environmental impacts of these activities. This paper presents the incorporation of soapstone powder and Fe–Si–Mn slag in clay–lime brick as a partial substitution for agglomerate (lime) because these residues meet the standard specification for the chemical composition of a pozzolanic material. The results show that brick samples where 25% lime is substituted by waste residues achieved a compressive strength above 2.0 MPa, which is within the standard specification, after 28 days of curing (soapstone powder) or 60 days of curing (soapstone powder and Fe–Si–Mn slag). These materials were classified as class II, non-inert residues.