Hydraulic tiles produced with fine aggregates and pigments reclaimed from iron ore tailings

Abstract

Confronted with the growing ecological awareness of the consumer market, the construction industry has been seeking strategies to promote a higher insertion of waste in the production chain while contributing to the technological improvement of processes and products, as well as mitigation of social and environmental impacts and, at the same time, conferring intangible value to the product. In this sense, the present work describes how iron ore tailings (IOT) can be used in the production of cement-based (hydraulic) tiles. The physical, chemical, and mineralogical characterizations carried out demonstrated that the IOT beneficiation (segregation) process resulted in a high-quality siliceous aggregate and a Fe-rich clay. The latter can be used as a pigment, whose pigmentation and cementing potentials improve with calcination and grinding. Compared to hydraulic tiles prepared with conventional materials, those obtained with the IOT-based materials displayed a pleasing appearance and the expected physical–mechanical performance.