New purpose in life for humble sludge with Brandix magic

20 Nov '07

3 min read

Explaining the process, he said pumice stones decay during the washing process and come to the wastewater stream along with silica silt and pebbles. The silica silt and the pebbles of pumice stones form a major part of the primary sludge settled during the physical treatment process. To produce the bricks, the pumice pebbles are separated from the primary sludge, crushed and re-mixed with the sludge, waste sand some cement.

This process, perfected at Brandix Finishing earlier this year, utilises 60 per cent of all the primary sludge generated by the plant and all of the used pumice stone and sandblast sand. With two people working on the project for two and a half hours a day, the company can produce 50 sludge bricks. The curing process takes 21 days, at the end of which the bricks reach their full compressive strength.

The Rehab Lanka Training Centre, which will be the first building to be built with these bricks will comprise of a facility to train differently-abled people in the operation of sewing machines and a workshop for the fabrication of wheel chairs and other aides for the differently-abled.

The centre is one of many skills development initiatives coming under Marks & Spencer's Marks & Start programme, which aims to give the opportunity of work experience to differently-abled people, the homeless, young unemployed and parents looking to return to work.

Brandix Lanka Ltd

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