METHOD OF PRODUCING BUILDING MEMBER Russian patent published in 1997 - IPC

FIELD: manufacture of light weight building members, e.g. brick based on clay-vermiculite mixes. SUBSTANCE: claimed method comprises grinding clay to fraction size of not greater than 10 mcm, swelling vermiculite at temperature of about 600 C, sieving particles of grain size of not greater than 3 mm, mixing the components in vermiculite to clay 1:1 to 1:19 ratio (wt parts), adding water to moisture content of 31-38%, molding the product in humid state, trying it at 150-200 C to moisture content of 1-2 %, and heat treatment is carried out at 350-450 C for 2-4 hours and then at 650-800 C for 2-4 hours. Molded and annealed product has high porosity and apparent density lower or comparable with density of water. In this case it acquires properties with respect to metal ions which are comparable with those common for sorbents, more particularly absorption of chrome and copper ions is about 80-90 % at sorbent to solution ratio of 1:100 to 1:15,000, pH value of 5-7.5 and initial chrome concentration of 1.48 mg/cubic dm under static equilibrium adsorption conditions. EFFECT: more efficient production method.