COLLEGE OF ENGINEERING

Civil Engineering Department

PROPOSED TOPICS FOR CE PROJECT 1

First Semester SY 2019-2020

Name of Students: Student No. Signature:

( 1 ) LONTOC, ERICA JOY C. 201412009
(2) PARRA, MARIO III B. 201410889
(3) TREMUCHA, MARK JOSEPH N. 201410498

You must propose at least THREE topics based from CMO-Areas requirement.
TOPIC #1:
1 What topic will you research
on? (Write it on the right side). Concrete.
Ensure that your topic is
specified and detailed. If it is
very broad, too wide, and
general, it will not be
approved.
2 Based on the topic above, what “THE STUDY OF INCORPORATING POUNDED
will be a proposed TITLE of
your thesis?
3 3.1 Why is there a need to
make research study on your
topic?
3.2 What specific problem will Pollution is one of the most important concerns in
your thesis solve or address?
Describe the problem very
clearly.
3.3 Specify how your thesis
will relate to or fit into the
problem.
Possible Utilization of Pounded Cigarette Filters in
CIGARETTE FILTERS IN CONCRETE”.
Cigarette Filters contain about 90 % of Cellulose
Acetate, a plastic type material taken from wood
which are slow to biodegrade and can take up to 18
months or more to break down under normal litter
conditions. Cigarette filters remain as an
environmental hazard. Discarded cigarette filters
were also carried as runoff from streets to drains, to
rivers until it reaches the oceans and beaches.
Incineration of cigarette filters is also an
unsustainable solution since burning waste contain
various hazardous substance but incorporating it as
a composite building material can be a sustainable
solution on this arising problem.
the 21st century. Litter of cigarette filters contributes
significantly in causing soil, water or land pollution.
The remnants of tobacco and harmful toxic
chemicals entrapped in the filters can leach into the
soil and waterways that may contaminate them.
Also, a sustainable light weight concrete can also be
made that may result into a cost-effective light
weight concrete which can be economically available
for those people in need.
Utilization of slow to biodegrade materials is the
main reason why this thesis is fit in the problem. Not
only it innovates alternative solution on one of the
main distributor of pollution which is the cigarette
filters which pollutes not only the land area but also,
it can end up on our oceans polluting the marine life.
An economical revolution about producing a light
weight concrete utilized with the pounded cigarette
filters may bring an economically effective

4 What evidence do you have
that there is a problem that
you’re your thesis will resolve? a possible addition in raw materials. Cigarette filters
construction building materials. We have yet to
prove the different kinds of physico-mechanical
properties it may have, or other properties which are
not present in the normal concrete just like if it can
be a sound absorber, or is it fast or slow when it
comes to heating rate. If the study is a success, it can
be a very big help to household communities and a
big help to our environment. This thesis is a
combination of finding different alternatives of cost-
effective building materials and also innovating
solutions for the sustainability of the environment.
Past studies have concluded that utilization of
cigarette filters that undergo a certain process can be
are proven effective when it comes in using it in
Precast Concrete Blocks. Different studies also show
that it can also be incorporated in asphalt that can be
used in paving the road. Our group was thinking if
pounded cigarette materials is used, will there be a
better outcome aside from the past results that came
out successfully. If so, then the thesis that we will
make will surely help not only in innovating solutions
about waste management of cigarette filters, but also,
it can also be a key to a sustainable, cost- effective and
an economical building material.
 Research Article #1
TITLE:

PHYSICO-MECHANICAL PROPERTIES AND

LEACHATE ANALYSIS OF CLAY FIRED
BRICKS INCORPORATED WITH CIGARETTE
BUTTS

REFERENCE:

AESLINA ABDUL KADIR, ABBAS MOHAJERANI

-Lecturer, University Technology Tun Hussein Onn (UTHM),
Malaysia, currently a PhD candidate at the
School of Civil, Environmental and Chemical Engineering,
RMIT University.
-Senior Lecturer (PhD), School of Civil, Environmental and
Chemical Engineering, RMIT University,
Melbourne, Australia.

SUMMARY OR KEY POINTS:

In this article, the physico-mechanical properties

and leachate which is defined as any contaminated liquid
that is generated from water percolating through a solid
waste disposal site, accumulating contaminants, and
moving into subsurface areas were analyzed. It says that
the cigarette butts is the most common type of litter
around the world and cigarettes are mostly made up of
almost 90 % cellulose acetate which is a product with
poor biodegradability. It was also discussed that
incineration of the cigarette filters are not, universally,
and environmentally sustainable nor economically
feasible disposal method. In this study, different kinds
and different brands and sizes of cigarette filters were
used which were provided by Buttout Australia Pty Ltd.
The cigarette filters were disinfected at 105℃ for 24
hours and then stored in sealed plastic bags. The
classification test was conducted based on liquid limit,
plastic limit, plasticity index, and particle size
distribution which were carried out according to
Australian Standard. Chemical composition of cigarette
filters was analyzed by the used of X-ray Flourescence.
Four different samples of bricks were used in making the
bricks sample containing different percentage of cigarette
filters and conducted the Standard proctor test to
determine the optimum moisture content and maximum
dry densities of the experimental soil. Samples were
made to be able to determine the following parameters:
compressive strength, modulus of rupture, rate of water
absorption, total water absorption, and the density of
bricks. It was also known that toxic heavy metals such as
arsenic, chromium, nickel and cadmium can be trapped
cigarette filters therefore, leachate analysis were
performed to investigate the leachates from the said toxic
heavy metals. Two different leachate analyzation
procedures were performed. Leachates were collected
over a long duration on 25,41,71, and 134 days. As for
the results, the bricks became more porous as the amount
of cigarette filters content increased. Above all the test
conducted, the light weight bricks produced incorporated
by 2.5% to 10% CBs by mass, equivalent to
approximately 10 to 30% by volume can be used in
different applications according to the required strength.
Compressive Strength were tested and it was found that
it reduced as for different cigarette filters content
samples. Modulus of rupture values decreased for the
brick samples with 2.5-10 % of cigarette filters. Water
absorption increased as the cigarette filters content
increases which defined a linear relationship in between.
The lowest value of flexural strength was found out to be
MPa. Also, all heavy metals concentration were
insignificant and much lower than the acceptable
regulatory limit. The result of this study show that
cigarette filters can be a potential addition to the raw
materials in manufacturing light weight bricks.

Research Article #2
TITLE:

EXPERIMENTAL STUDY ON UNIAXIAL

COMPRESSIVE STRENGTH OF CONCRETE
INCORPORATED WITH CIGARETTE BUTTS

REFERENCE:

LUO Tao, ZHANG Zhaojing, ZHANG Jinliang, SUN

Chaowei* and JI Yanjun
Shaanxi Key Laboratory of Safety and Durability of Concrete
Structures, Xijing University, Xi’an, Shaanxi Province,
710123, China

SUMMARY OR KEY POINTS:

In this study, Dr. Mohajerani of the RMIR

University has experimented on different utilization of
cigarette filters such as mixing it on clay bricks and
asphalt concrete which was proven effective in reducing
the city’s temperature. His study provides an alternative
into lessening the urban island heat effect. This study
leads into determining the mechanical and thermal
properties of concrete when mixed with the cigarette
filters. Different studies were conducted involving the
addition of diverse kind of fibers. For this paper, the
cigarette filters toxic chemicals were properly removed
and cleaned, completely sealed and hardened by the
addition of paraffin liquid. Concrete cubes containing a
varying amount of cigarette filters were made to be
tested. It says that the concrete cubes were sealed under a
constant temperature and humidity for 28 days. Materials
were prepared to conduct the experiment. The excess
tobacco on the cigarette filters were removed and the
samples were dried to a certain temperature. The paraffin
wax was heated to a certain temperature before the filters
were mixed together with the paraffin liquid and was
mixed thoroughly before cooling. If the concrete that was
made met the specific standards, the mold will be placed
in a shaking table and the finished specimen was
maintained in a box for 28 days. For the uniaxial
compression test, the UTM was used and the results were
shown in the article. With a total number of 21
specimens, three specimens for every content was made.
The cigarette filter contents are 0kg/m3, 5kg/m3,
7.5kg/m3, 10kg/m3, 12.5kg/m3, 15kg/m3 and 20kg/m3.
With the increase of the amount of cigarette butts, the
maximum load of concrete can be reduced gradually, and
the maximum load corresponding displacement
decreases. At the same time with the increase of cigarette
butts content, the softening of concrete after the peak
shows a stronger ductility, indicating that cigarette butts
enhance the plastic behavior of concrete. Based on the
conclusion provided, with the increase in the amount of
cigarette butts, the strength of concrete continues to
decrease, if the content of cigarette butts is less than
10kg/m3, the strength decreases slowly, and the
maximum strength loses 13%. If the content of cigarette
butts is greater than 10kg/m3, the strength decreases
faster, once the content of cigarette butts reaches
20kg/m3, the strength loses 30%. The load-displacement
curve of concrete is consistent with the load displacement
curve of the normal concrete. concrete cubic without
cigarette butts, a large number of pieces cracked after
failed. With the increase in the content of cigarette butts,
the integrity of the concrete in the destruction is still
better, showing a better ductility, only a small amount of
peeling debris. Only the compressive strength of the
concrete was tested. Further study is still in need to
comprehensively evaluate the effects of cigarette filters
in the concrete.
 Research Article #3
TITLE:

DESIGN OF PRECAST CONCRETE BLOCKS

FOR PAVING WITH THE USE OF CIGARETTE
BUTTS (CELLULOSE ACETATE)

REFERENCE:

Shruti Wadalka, Rashmin Kulkarni, Nikunj Sawant,

Aman Kashyap, Zameer Pathan, Ajinkya Kale6
Professor, Students, Department of Civil Engineering,
Dr. D. Y. Patil Institute of Technology, Savitribai Phule
Pune University

SUMMARY OR KEY POINTS:

The core of most cigarette filters, the part that looks

like white cotton, is actually a form of plastic called
cellulose acetate. By itself, cellulose acetate is very slow
to degrade in our environment. Depending on the
conditions of the area the cigarette butt is discarded in, it
can take 18 months to 10 years for a cigarette filter to
decompose. Used cigarette filters are full of toxins, which
can leach into the ground and waterways, damaging
living organisms that come into contact with them. Most
filters are discarded with bits of tobacco still attached to
them as well, further polluting our environment with
nicotine, which is poisonous. The researchers used
cigarette butts as an additive to design precast concrete
blocks for paving, they categorizes each blocks according
to how are they being laid on the surface ground and
interlocking with each other; Category A are generally
capable of being laid in herringbone bond pattern,
Category B are dentated on only two sides and Category
C are not dentated type but depend on dimensional
accuracy for interlocking effect. Three types of test were
made to ensure that the precast concrete blocks are up to
its quality, water absorption, compressive and flexural
strength. Based on the experimental data presented, there
was no significant variation in the compressive strength
of paving blocks incorporated with 0% cigarette butts
(30.1 N/mm2 ) and 0.1% cigarette butts (29.6 N/mm2 ).
The compressive strength went on to decrease with the
increase in percentage of cigarette butts. Hence, cigarette
butts can be used in less percentage (up to 0.25%) by
weight of the mix proportion to get good quality of paver
blocks which will also help us to reduce the world’s
cigarette butt problem. The compressive strength can also
be increased by maintaining the correct water-cement
ratio. Plasticizers and other such admixtures can be used
to achieve high early strength of concrete blocks for
paving and for The flexural strength of concrete paver
blocks went on to increase from 11.23 N/mm2 (0%
cigarette butts) to 12.01 N/mm2 (0.1% cigarette butts).
But it later decreased when the percentage of cigarette
butts was increased from 0.1% to 0.25%. But these results
of flexural strength are above 4.5 N/mm2. Hence, there is
no problem in incorporating concrete paver blocks with
permissible percentages of cigarette butts.

Research Article #4
TITLE:

UTILISATION OF CIGARETTE BUTTS IN CLAY

BRICKS

REFERENCE:

M. Gokulnath, P. Hari Krishnan, S. Jayashree, J. Julia

Caroline, N. Arun Prakash
UG Student, Department of Civil Engineering,
Valliammai Engineering College, Tamil Nadu, India

SUMMARY OR KEY POINTS:

Recycling of cigarette butts into bricks could

contribute significantly to a sustainable solution of one of
the serious environmental pollution problems on our
planet. Most cigarette filters are made of cellulose acetate
which is slow to biodegrade and can take up to 18 months
or more to break down under normal conditions. It is
difficult to recycle cigarette butts because there are no
easy mechanisms or procedures to assure efficient and
economical separation of the butts and appropriate
treatment if the entrapped chemicals In this research
journal the researchers main objectives are: To study the
properties of clay bricks while incorporating cigarette
butts, To study the Compressive strength of the brick by
adding 2.5% of cigarette butts in each brick and To make
the bricks which are energy efficient which is the only
viable solution to the environmental concerns and natural
resource conservation for future generations. There are
three materials used in this research clay, cigarette butts
and water. Clay is the main raw material for bricks with
differing proportions composed mainly of silica,
alumina, lime, iron manganese, sulphur and phosphates.
Secondly, the cigarette butts or cigarette filters it is
typically about 30% of the cigarette’s original length. The
predominant material used in filter is cellulose acetate
which do not readily biodegrade and lastly water, water
helps to bind all the raw materials for giving proper mix.
There are 7 test performed to ensure that the bricks are
good quality can be used for construction works.
 Research Article #5
TITLE:

BIOCOMPOSITES OF CELLULOSE ACETATE

BUTYRATE WITH MODIFIED HEMP
CELLULOSE FIBRES

REFERENCE:

Sirisart Ouajai, Robert A. Shanks*

SUMMARY OR KEY POINTS:

Solution casting and subsequent hot compression was

used to prepare composites of cellulose acetate butyrate
containing Vf ¼ 0.4 of modified hemp cellulose, with
alkali, pectate lyase enzyme scouring and ball-milling
treat- ments. Hot pressing provided more compacted
composite structures by removing voids from between
fibres. The mechanical properties of the composites were
investigated using static and dynamic tensile testing. The
modulus and strength of the composites depended upon
both the applied fibre modifications and fibre length.
Thinner composite sheets exhibited better modulus and
strength due to increased consolidation efficiency. Ther-
momechanical response revealed the tributyl-citrate–
plasticizer-dependent glass transition, which was broa-
dened due to variation in the cellulose crystallinity. The
treatment of fibres by pectate lyase enzyme improved the
mechanical properties of these composites with cellulose
acetate butyrate. Acetone extraction and sodium
hydroxide treatment were less effective but still provided
improved fibre-matrix interaction. Melt processing may
be preferable to achieve better mechanical properties.
Good modulus, strength and biodegradability of
composites are desirable for embedded reinforcing fibres
and the selected matrix. The use of biodegradable matrix
merits consideration, since this will result in completely
biodegradable composites. The matrix phase is crucial
for the performance of polymer composites. cellulose
acetate propionate and cellulose acetate butyrate (CAB).
Their composite mechanical properties are potentially
comparable with polypropylene composites. CAB films
were prepared with thicknesses in the range 0.8–2 mm.
Figure 1 shows the tensile mechanical properties of CAB
film at different film thicknesses. The thinnest film
showed the best mechanical properties. A reduction in
mechanical properties was found when the thickness
increased from 0.8 to 1.2 mm
 Research Article #6
TITLE:

A PRACTICAL PROPOSAL FOR SOLVING THE

WORLD’S CIGARETTE BUTT PROBLEM:
RECYCLING IN FIRED CLAY BRICKS

REFERENCE:

Abbas Mohajerani ,⇑ , Aeslina Abdul Kadir , Luke

Larobina School of Civil, Environmental and Chemical
Engineering, RMIT University, Melbourne, Australia
Department of Environmental and Water Resources,
Faculty of Civil and Environmental Engineering,
Universiti Tun Hussein Onn Malaysia (UTHM), 86400
Parit Raja, Batu Pahat, Johor Darul Takzim, Malaysia

SUMMARY OR KEY POINTS:

The disposal and littering of cigarette butts (CBs) is a

serious environmental problem. Trillions of cigarettes are
produced every year worldwide, resulting in millions of
tons of toxic waste being dumped into the environment in
the form of cigarette butts. As CBs have poor
biodegradability, it can take many years for them to break
down. This paper reviews and presents some of the
results of a study on the recycling of CBs into fired clay
bricks. Bricks with 2.5%, 5%, 7.5%, and 10% CB content
by weight were manufactured and tested, and then
compared against control clay bricks with 0% CB
content. The results showed that the dry density
decreased by up to 30% and the compressive strength
decreased by 88% in bricks with 10% CBs. The
calculated compressive strength of bricks with 1% CBs
was determined to be 19.53 Mpa. To investigate the
effect of mixing time, bricks with 7.5% CB content were
manufactured with different mixing times of 5, 10, and
15 min. To test the effect of heating time on the properties
of CB bricks, the heating rate used during manufacturing
was changed to 0.7, 2, 5, and 10 C min1 . Bricks with 0%
and 5% CB content were fired with these heating rates.
Leachate tests were carried out for bricks with 0%, 2.5%,
5%, and 10% CB content. The emissions released during
firing were tested for bricks with 0% and 5% CB content
using heating rates of 0.7, 2, 5, and 10 C min1 . The gases
tested were carbon monoxide (CO), carbon dioxide
(CO2), chlorine (Cl2), nitrogen oxide (NO), and
hydrogen cyanide (HCN). Finally, estimations were
made for the energy that could be saved by firing bricks
incorporating CBs. Calculations showed that up to 58%
of the firing energy could potentially be saved. Bricks
were shown to be a viable solution for the disposal of
CBs. They can reduce contamination caused by cigarette
butts and provide a masonry construction material that
can be either loadbearing or non-loadbearing, depending
on the quantity of CBs incorporated. This paper proposes
the use of bricks with 1% CB content throughout the
brick-manufacturing industry. If bricks contained as little
as 1% CB content, they would still provide a solution for
the issue of CB recycling while maintaining properties
very similar to those of a non-CB brick. Our calculations
show that, theoretically, only 2.5% of the world’s annual
brick production is necessary to completely offset the
worldwide, annual cigarette production. The
investigation that this paper has proven have shown a
very positive results about incorporating the cigarette
filters into fired clay bricks. It was shown that the
compressive strength of the bricks will be lessen as the
amount of cigarette filters increases. It was also stated
that the higher amount of cigarette filters induced the
worsening appearance and shape the bricks may get. The
main advantage of this study was finding out that
incorporation of cigarette filters was the reduction in dry
density and increase in porosity. This resulted to a bricks
that were lighter, easier to handle and has a low thermal
conductivity. Mixing time has also a significant effect on
the properties of bricks incorporated with cigarette filters.
Further study must investigate on other methods of
reducing gas emissions.

Research Article #7

TITLE:

PHYSICAL AND MECHANICAL PROPERTIES

OF FIRED CLAY BRICKS INCORPORATED
WITH CIGARETTE BUTTS: COMPARISON
BETWEEN SLOW AND FAST HEATING RATES

REFERENCE:

Aeslina Abdul 'senior Lecturer, (PhD), Department of

Environmental and Water Resources, Faculty of Civil
and Environmental Engineering, Universiti Tun Hussein
Onn Malaysia (UTHM), 86400 Parit Raja, Batu Pahat,
Johor Darul Takzim. Malaysia. 2 Senior Lecturer (PhD),
School of Civil, Environmental and Chemical
Engineering, RMlT University, Melbourne, Australia

SUMMARY OR KEY POINTS:

In this study, in order to investigate the physical and

mechanical properties, standard clay brick and CB brick
samples are prepared in extruded forms. The preparation
of the manufacturing standard clay brick and clay brick
incorporated with CB samples were explained in detail in
the previous work 171. In this investigation, standard and
fired clay brick samples with 5% of CB content were
prepared. The brick samples were manufactured in three
different sizes: cube (100 x 100 x 100 mm), brick (225 x
110 x 75 mm) and beam (300 x 100 x 50 mm), according
to the minimum requirements of testing in compliance
with Australian New Zealand Standard. The brick
samples were dried for 24 hours in the oven at 105OC
prior to heating experiments. Two different heating rates
were used: 2°C mm' and 5°C min-'. Samples were fired
in solid forms fi-om room temperature to 1050°C.
Heating time required with slow heating rate is 8.8 hours
whilst fast heating rate used in the firing proces only
required 3.5 hours. Physical and mechanical laboratory
tests (compressive strength, initial rate of absorption and
dry density) in accordance with the standard were carried
out to determine the performance of clay bricks and CB
bricks fired at these two different heating rates. All results
reported are means of three values. The research carried
out in this study has established that fast heating rate
could produce an equivalent physical and mechanical
properties to those produced at slow heating rate
especially with CB brick samples. All the results
determined in this study comply with the requirement
accordingly and some of CB brick results are better
compared to the standard brick. Therefore, CB brick and
fast heating rate should be considered as an option in the
brick industry in order to minimize the manufacturing
cost. The changes do not critically affect the properties of
fired clay bricks and significantly reduce environmental
pollution, shorter firing duration, thus offering the
potential for greater energy efficiency.

Research Article #8

TITLE:

EXPERIMENTAL STUDY ON DETERMINING

THE OPTIMUM CIGARETTE BUTT CONTENT
OF MODIFIED BITUMINOUS MIXTUREOF
CIGARETTE BUTTS

REFERENCE:

Yi CUI, Zhao-rong WU, Yali LI and Hang YANG

Department of Transportation Engineering, Tongji Zhejiang
College, Jiaxing 314051, China

SUMMARY OR KEY POINTS:

China ranks first in the world as the number of

smokers. The environmental pollution and recycling
problems of waste cigarette butts are becoming more and
more serious. How to make better reuse of waste cigarette
butts has been taken action by some countries and regions
in the world. In order to study the utilization value of the
cigarette butt in road performance, this test takes No. 70
matrix bitumen and waste tobacco as raw material. The
optimum amount of the content of the cigarette butt in the
experiment is further determined based on the test
performance of the modified asphalt mixture and the
modified bitumen mixture is prepared by the addition
method. The performance indexes of modified
bituminous mixture with different dosages were tested
and studied. Combined with production and economic
realities, the optimum cigarette butt content of modified
asphalt mixture is determined to make the road
performance optimal. This paper focuses on the
determination of the best bituminous content of the
bituminous mixture. Through the toxicity test of the
leachate published abroad to reflect the pollution of the
cigarette butt to the environment and analyze the harm to
the environment, combined with the development of
global reusing technology and the economic benefits
brought by cigarette butts, the prospect of the utilization
of waste cigarette butts is forecasted. A company called
“Tera cycle” in New Jersey, USA produces wood plastic
composite flooring and plastic transport pallets. The
cigarette butts are mixed with other materials that need to
be recycled to make railway sleepers, Frisbee, ashtrays,
and playgrounds for community parks. In Australia, it is
used to pave the road, to make clay bricks with a cigarette
butt, and to make paper in Brazil, and to make nail polish
from the Jiangxi University of Science and Technology’s
cigarette butts. These examples fully show that cigarette
butts have great reutilization value. It was found out that
the clay bricks that was made of from cigarette filters
have better insulating properties, it also defined that the
use of cigarette filters and utilizing it with asphalt can
improve pavement performance which can save the cost
of pavement construction.

Research Article #9

TITLE:

DENSITY,STRENGTH,THERMAL
CONDUCTIVITY AND LEACHATE
CHARACTERISTICS OF LIGHT-WEIGHT
FIRED CLAY BRICKS INCORPORATING
CIGARETTE BUTTS

REFERENCE:

Aeslina Abdul Kadir, Abbas Mohajerani, Felicity

Roddick and John Buckeridge World Academy of
Science, Engineering and Technology International
Journal of Materials and Metallurgical Engineering
Vol:3, No:5, 2009
SUMMARY OR KEY POINTS:

Four different mixes were used for making fired brick

samples. CBs (2.5, 5, and 10 % by weight, about 10 – 30
% by volume) were mixed with the experimental soil and
fired to produce bricks. The mixes were made using a
Hobart mechanical mixer with a 10 liter capacity for 5
minutes. The samples were compacted manually in
appropriate moulds using predetermined masses
corresponding to the maximum density using optimum
moisture contents, found from standard compaction tests.
The samples were made in three sizes: cube (100 x 100 x
100 mm), beam (225 x 110 x 75 mm) and brick (300 x
100 x 50 mm), for determining compressive strength,
modulus of rupture, rate of water absorption, total water
absorption, and the density of the manufactured bricks.
The specimens were dried at 105oC for 24 hours,
removed from the moulds and were fired in furnace at
1050oC. The fired samples were tested for compressive
strength, flexural strength, density, water absorption and
initial rate of absorption. All tests were carried out
according to the Australian Standard. Leaching tests were
also carried out on whole solid brick samples to
investigate the long-term leachate characteristics of
bricks. This method was a modification of the static
leachate test (SLT) that is generally used to investigate
the mechanism of leaching from solidified waste forms.
In the SLT method, the leachant was not renewed by a
fresh solution in order to produce the maximum leachate
concentrations, and leachates were collected over long
durations of 25, 41, 71 and 134 days. Triplicate samples
from all the leachates were used and analyzed for heavy
metals using Inductive Coupled Plasma Mass
Spectrophotometer (ICPMS). The density of the
manufactured bricks decreased from 2118 kg/m3 for the
control samples (0 % CBs) to 1482 kg/m3 for bricks with
10 % CB content. The density of bricks decreased by 8.3
%, 23.9 % and 30 % when 2.5 %, 5 % and 10 % CBs was
incorporated. The bricks became more porous as CB
content increased. Low-density or light-weight bricks
have great advantages in construction including, for
example, lower structural dead load, easier handling,
lower transport costs, lower thermal conductivity, and a
higher number of bricks produced per ton of raw
materials. Light bricks can be substituted for standard
bricks in most applications except when bricks of higher
strength are needed or when a particular look or finish is
desirable for architectural reasons.