Porous aggregate developed with the use of coal-containing clays of the Angren field

Relevance. One of the ways to solve the issues of resource and energy conservation is the production and use of porous aggregates. Porous aggregates allow obtaining effective lightweight concrete for thermal insulation, wall panels, monolithic walls and other load-bearing structures, contribute to the increase of energy efficiency, improvement of thermal insulation, reliability, increase of fire resistance, frost resistance and seismic resistance of buildings, reduction of their weight. Therefore, in the production of porous aggregates, the primary task is the use of industrial waste and products of their processing. Solving these problems leads not only to saving valuable natural resources, but also to solution of environmental problems. Aim. Development of compositions and study of properties of porous aggregate based on bentonite clay of Navbakhar deposit and coal-containing clay of Angren brown coal deposit. Object. Coal-containing clay of Angren brown coal deposit, bentonite clay of Navbakhar deposit and artificial porous aggregate based on them. Methods. Chemical, energy-dispersive X-ray, X-ray phase and infrared spectroscopic analysis, scanning electron microscopy, mathematical modeling, etc. Results. The authors have determined chemical and mineralogical compositions of the clays used. Using the mathematical modeling method they developed the regression equations describing the effects of the amount of bentonite clay in the batch, firing temperature and isothermal holding time on the bulk density and water absorption of the porous aggregates. The resulting porous aggregates with a bulk density of 395 to 690 kg/m3 have a compressive strength in a cylinder of 2.74 to 6.46 MPa, respectively. It was found that the aggregates obtained meet the requirements of regulatory documents.