Characterization of Clay Mix with Incorporation of Granite Waste for the Production of Ceramic Tiles

The municipality of Cachoeiro do Itaperimirim, located in Espírito Santo, has a well-established ornamental stone industry, being one of the main cutting and extraction poles of this material. However, industry stimulation caused the waste produced to be disposed of in inappropriate places, threatening the environment and human life. In the present work, a study was carried out aiming at the reuse of wastes as raw material for red ceramics, from chemical, physical, and mineralogical analyses, besides the characterization of the samples regarding the granulometry, plasticity, and basic properties, in order to better investigation of these materials. The preliminary study showed that, in general, the essentially kaolinite ceramic mass tends to enrich with the addition of ornamental rock wastes due to the presence of flux oxides.