Performance of bricks and brick masonry prism made using coal fly ash and coal bottom ash

The major problem of a coal combustion-based power plant is that it creates large quantity of solid wastes. So, to achieve the gainful use of waste materials and to avoid other environmental problems, this study was undertaken. The quantity of coal ash by-products, particularly coal fly ash and coal bottom ash has been increasing from the coal power plants around the world. The other objective of this study was to explore the possibility of utilization of coal ash in the production of ash bricks. In 15 different mixes, Mix Designation M-1 to M-15, the varying percentages of lime and gypsum were used and sand was replaced with coal bottom ash. Further, it has been noticed that the water absorption and compressive strength of mix M-15 is 13.36% and 7.85 MPa which is better than the conventional bricks. The test results of this investigation show that the prism strength of coal ash masonry prisms was more than that of the conventional bricks.