The growing use of industrial byproducts in construction requires a rigorous understanding of their long‐term environmental impact. This critical knowledge gap is particularly pronounced in the case of sugar refinery pressmud. This preliminary study conducts an initial screening of the environmental leaching characteristics of binary cement‐pressmud bricks to determine the controlling parameters on contaminant release. Granular and tank leaching tests revealed that the portlandite content is the primary factor controlling the system’s high pH (10.20–12.58) and the consequent leaching of calcium. While pressmud increased total dissolved solids, the release of trace elements (Sr., Mo, V) was minimal and within environmentally acceptable limits for construction materials. The principal contribution of this work is to define the mechanism of contaminant release and provide the essential scientific basis to confirm that pressmud‐cement bricks, when appropriately formulated, are an environmentally safe and sustainable alternative, thereby transforming a waste product into a validated resource.
Chong et al. (Thu,) studied this question.