Paper pulp waste - A new source of raw material for the synthesis of a porous ceramic composite

A synthetic porous ceramic composite material consisting of the mullite, cordierite and cristobalite phases is produced from a mixture of paper pulp waste and clay by reaction sintering at 1400degreesC. Physicomechanical properties such as bulk density, porosity, cold crushing strength and cold modulus of rupture have been studied. The presence of mullite, cordierite, cristobalite and quartz as major phases and montellecite, tatanite, forsterite and anorthite as minor phases have been confirmed by X-ray diffraction pattern. SEM studies revealed the presence of well developed needle shaped mullite and quartz crystals. The paper also discusses the possible uses of this type of porous composite material.