A continuation study on recycling cigarette butts in fired clay bricks

Cigarette butts (CBs) are the most commonly littered waste material in the world. It is estimated that over 5.7 trillion cigarettes are consumed worldwide each year, resulting in millions of tonnes of highly toxic waste contaminating the environment. CBs are composed of cellulose acetate filters – a polymer with poor biodegradability – and which, depending upon the environmental conditions, can take many years to decompose. In this study, fired clay bricks were manufactured with 1% CBs by weight and tested against control bricks with 0% CBs. The energy required during the firing process was calculated with a saving of up to 10.20%, for bricks incorporating 1% CBs. The calculated thermal conductivity of the samples showed a reduction of 17% from 1.078 to 0.898 W m-1 K-1 with the addition of 1% CBs. This means that the heat energy transferred through a brick wall reduces by about 17%. The results showed that the compressive strength of 1% CB bricks by weight tested was 30.8 MPa, while the compressive strength of the control bricks was 48.6 MPa. In addition, the manufactured bricks were tested for water absorption, efflorescence, initial rate of absorption (IRA), microstructural analysis, density, and shrinkage.