Valorization of coffee waste with Moroccan clay to produce a porous red ceramics (class BIII)

This work proposes an effective solution for the recycling of coffee waste by incorporating it (10, 20 and 30 wt.%) as a secondary material with clay (Cretaceous deposit of Moroccan Meseta) to produce porous lightweight ceramics (class BIII) whose quality is similar to that of ceramic materials with insulating character. The applied raw materials were characterized in terms of their composition (XRD, XRF, IR), microstructural analysis (polarized microscope) and thermal behavior (TDA/TGA). The ceramic materials resulted after firing at 1150 °C, were investigated regarding the phases composition, structural characteristics and physical properties of technological interest. In fact, the thermal treatment at 1150 °C gives samples having the following technological characteristics: P = 42.81%, d = 1.46 g/cm3, λ = 0.39 W/m K, WA = 29.25% and F.S = 10.75 MPa. The combination of XRD and polarized microscope, allowed a better analysis of the mineralogical and structural evolution after sintering at 1150 °C.