Ceramsite production from sediment in Beian River: characterization and parameter optimization

In order to realize pollution control and resource recovery, sediment from Beian River was used for ceramsite production. Orthogonal experiment was adopted to determine the best condition for ceramsite production from sediment, also the heavy metal leaching experiment was performed for environmental safety. The result demonstrated that the optimum conditions were sewage sludge ratio of 15%, binder ratio of 5%, pre-heating temperature of 450℃, sintering temperature of 1150℃ and the firing time was 23min. Besides, the heavy metal leaching of ceramsite showed that the ceramsite produced met with the China’s industrial standard of CJ/T 299-2008 and the concentration of heavy metals in the lixivium was lower than the threshold of GB/T 5085.3-2007. The research demonstrated that ceramsite production is a feasible way for utilization of sediment.