Benefits Of FABA: Can Make Concrete Brick Or Ceramic Tile

Illustration. (Photo: Unsplash)

JAKARTA - The main researcher of Ceramics Center, Subari said that Fly Ash and Bottom Ash or FABA generated from Steam Power Plant waste can be processed into various diversified products in the construction sector.

"So far, the multi-storey construction industry is still using mountain rock splits. If this continues, the stone will be used up so that we make artificial splits using FABA", Subari said in his statement in Jakarta, quoted from Antara, Thursday, April 1.

The Ceramics Center has collaborated with PT Indonesia Power in conducting various studies on the use of FABA since a dozen years ago. In 2006, a mixture of 50 percent Fly Ash and 20 percent Bottom Ash from an Electric steam power plant (PLTU) Paiton can be made into concrete bricks for wall masonry.

Subsequent research with a composition of 25 percent Fly Ash mixed with clay at PLTU Suralaya can be made into ceramic tile. The silica sand component which is mostly contained in FABA makes this commodity more familiar in the construction industry, especially when the government removed FABA from the list of Hazardous and Toxic Substances (B3) on February 2, 2021.

FABA can be used for ceramic and concrete industrial products whose product quality meets the Indonesian National Standard (SNI).

"When we collaborated with the PLTU, we have made a diversification of FABA-based products, including paving blocks, tetrapods for beach protection, water-permeable tiles, and blocks". said Subari.

Even the Semen Gresik and Semen Cap Gajah industries, continued Subari, have also used FABA as a mixture in cement manufacturing.

The Director-General of Electricity at the Ministry of Energy and Mineral Resources, Rida Mulyana, said that the government is currently drafting regulations related to the management and use of FABA for the benefit of derivative industries.

"We are finalizing standard operational procedures for the use and management of FABA so that later it can be managed properly", said Rida Mulyana.