Coating mortars based on mining and industrial residues

Abstract

The present work assesses the feasibility of using mining and industrial residues as aggregates of coating mortars in terms of building thermal performance. For this purpose, we investigated four types of aggregates (river sand—REF, iron ore tailings—IOT, friable quartzite—QTZ, and steelmaking slag—SLG). Initially, the specific gravity (density) and thermal conductivity of the residue-based mortars were experimentally obtained. Subsequently, a sensitivity analysis was performed through energy simulations of two existing dwellings. Mortars with SLG and IOT presented the best performance due to their low thermal conductivity and, more importantly, their high density. Mortars with SLG presented 64% of thermal performance classifications as “superior” and “intermediate”, versus an average of 53% for the other aggregates. They were followed by those with IOT, REF and lastly those with QTZ. Therefore, these mortars are cost-effective and sustainable solutions to passively improve the thermal performance of buildings, as well as to mitigate the impacts of the disposal of these residues.