Industrial Ceramics: From Waste to New Resources for Eco-Sustainable Building Materials

Round 1

Reviewer 1 Report

In the reviewed paper, Industrial ceramics: from waste to new resources for eco-sustainable building materials, the authors analyzed different types of waste ceramics as potential materials for reuse as building materials.

In my opinion, the work is very interesting, because I deal with a similar issue. The topic is well covered and it is recommended that the work be published with a few comments and corrections.

1. The chemical composition of MK and P should be listed in a table, it is more clear

2. In chapter 2.2. I didn't get right, did you mix MK and P and then add waste ceramics to the mixture, or did you mix waste ceramics with MK and P separately. Because  there is a lot of samples in tabele 7

3. maybe it would be better, more transparent, to display table 7 as landscape

4. explain the names of the samples from table 7, LBCa 75 3, contains 50% P? Same as sample LBCa 3? then why aren't they named like that, for example LBCa 75 3 + 50P, such as LBCa 5 + 10MK?

5. Does the sample LBCa 14 + 10P or 20P,  also contain 10MK or 20MK?

6. Based on Table 7, I think it would be good to do SEM of the most interesting samples as well

English is correct

Author Response

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Author Response File: Author Response.pdf

Reviewer 2 Report

The authors utilized ceramic waste for building materials. The paper is generally good but it needs improvement. Followings should be carried out before acceptance:

The abstract looks like the paper is review paper. The abstract should contain important results of the study.

How this recycled materials for this study is obtained?

The recent studies on ceramic type of powders can be added to introduction: data-driven based estimation of waste-derived ceramic concrete from experimental results with its environmental assessment; Mechanical Behavior in terms of Shear and Bending Performance of Reinforced Concrete Beam Using Waste Fire Clay as Replacement of Aggregate;  improving bond performance of ribbed steel bars embedded in recycled aggregate concrete using steel mesh fabric confinement; influence of replacing cement with waste glass on mechanical properties of concrete; use of recycled coal bottom ash in reinforced concrete beams as replacement for aggregate; concrete containing waste glass as an environmentally friendly aggregate: a review on fresh and mechanical characteristics; mechanical behavior of crushed waste glass as replacement of aggregates;flexural behavior of reinforced concrete beams using waste marble powder towards application of sustainable concrete; effects of waste powder, fine and coarse marble agregates on concrete compressive strength;

It is better to add crushed photos of materials

Add sieve analysis results in Figure.

Material methods section is very complex. The authors should add a paragraph which analysis were done for this study. It was very hard to track which analysis were performed.

For Alkali activated materials or geopolymers, following studies can be included:  production of perlite-based-aerated geopolymer using hydrogen peroxide as eco-friendly material for energy-efficient buildings; geopolymer concrete with high strength, workability and setting time using recycled steel wires and basalt powder..

Please add damaged photos damaged photos of samples

Table 7 is not good. The authors should compress it in 1 page.

How did authors conduct compression test details should be provied.

What is chemical properties of cement

Novelty is not clear. Very same studies are already exists. What is the difference?

The reason for selecting design mixture should be added.

Compare your results with existing studies

Add photos for test setup?

Add recent studies on this subject to introduction. There are many studies on the introduction for this topic.

Conclusion should be improved. The recommendation consdiering all test should be given for engineers.

The important results of the study should be given in format of bullets

Author Response

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Author Response File: Author Response.pdf

Reviewer 3 Report

The article describes a method for recycling industrial ceramic wastes from the manufacture of building materials. The process describes the reuse of ceramic powders as precursors for building materials consolidated by an alkaline activation process. The article describes the performance of numerous preliminary tests of compositions using waste from several industrial sources and from different compounds allowing the alkaline activation.

The materials were characterized by usual but by few experimental methods. The results are commented in an unclear and unstructured way, in particular with regard to table 7 which cannot be published as it is. Understanding the comments is made difficult by the extensive use of acronyms. There is no overall synthesis of the experimental results, for example by looking for correlations with the chemical, structural and microstructural characteristics of the materials. The authors did not use a method of optimizing material properties using a scientific or a numerical approach.

Finally, we can consider that the work is very similar to many engineering works for the optimization of composition that are already largely known in the literature. The manuscript does not present a work whose scientific content would be sufficiently innovative to be published.

Only minor editing of English language are required

Author Response

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Author Response File: Author Response.pdf

Round 2

Reviewer 3 Report

The revised version of the article describes preliminary attempts to recycle industrial ceramic waste in the manufacture of building materials. The process is similar to the processes used for the manufacture of geomaterials, since it uses a method of consolidation by an alkaline activation process. The article describes the performance of numerous preliminary tests of compositions using wastes from several industrial sources and compounds allowing an alkaline activation process. The revised version of the article has been corrected in many places.

The revised version of the article presents characterization methods similar to those presented in the initial version. It is the same for the characterization results which are identical to those already presented. To improve the understanding of the research process, the authors have modified the presentation of the results. They also improved the interpretation of the large quantity of the experimental results, so as to identify the values of parameters allowing the optimization of the compositions. It is nonetheless regrettable that the optimization method is essentially empirical and not based on a more rigorous method.

The revisions of the second version of the article allow a good understanding of the research topic, and now suitable for publication.

Minor editing of English language are required