Wet dyeing sludge being pelleted and introduce d in clay brick production to promote product quality and sludge consumption dosage.

• A novel and high efficient approach to disposal of dyeing sludge is proposed. • Physical and mechanical properties are improved significantly. • The optimal particle size of sludge pellets is 2–6 mm. • The number and volume of pores below 100 nm are reduced due to pellets. The introduction of dyeing sludge in the production of fired brick is an economic and practical disposal approach. However, wet dyeing sludge is easy to form block mass during the mixing process of raw materials due to the high moisture content, which affected the production efficiency and destroyed the homogeneous structure of the fired brick, posing a negative impact on the engineering performance of the fired brick. In this study, wet sludge firstly is firstly pelleted and then introduced in the production of fired bricks to reduce the negative impacts on mixing process and the products quality. The results showed that the introduction of dyeing sludge pellets significantly improved the physical and mechanical properties of fired bricks. Compared with bricks incorporating dyeing sludge, water absorption is reduced by 24 % and compressive strength is increased by 101.6 %. The physical and mechanical properties of fired bricks incorporating 30 wt% of pelleting sludge are similar with bricks incorporating 20 wt% dyeing sludge without pelleting. The reduction in water absorption and porosity compared to that incorporating sludge without pelleting was mainly due to the reduction in the number and volume of pores of the same size. However, the introduction of more than 30 wt% dyeing sludge pellets is not conducive to improving the performance of the product, because a large number of macropores with size larger than 100 μm will be generated, which destroys the uniform and dense structure of the product. To ensure product quality meet the standard, the maximum dosage of dyeing sludge with pelleting is controlled below 30 wt%. This study provides an advanced method to improve the treatment efficiency of solid waste and the quality of products. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]