The invention relates to a process for the preparation of a ceramic article containing industrial, domestic or natural sludge, the ceramic article, and treated domestic or natural sludge suitable as raw material for the production of the ceramic article. The sludge (which definition excludes digestate that is obtained from a Municipal Solid Waste (MSW) process comprising liquefaction of the organic fraction of MSW by addition of one or more enzymes) has been pretreated by a process comprising the optional step of drying the sludge to a moisture content of at most 10% by weight, resulting in dried sludge, and heating the sludge or dried sludge in a spouting bed incinerator and reducing the content of organic matter to less than 5% by weight. The invention furthermore relates to a process wherein the pretreatment comprises using the domestic or natural sludge as a food source for larvae.

In one aspect, a film is disclosed, which comprises at least one ceramic material, and a binder mixed with the ceramic material, where the film has a thickness in a range of about 0.01 mm to about 2.5 mm. The film is flexible with a minimum bend radius that is equal to or less than about 2 times a thickness of the film. By way of example, the minimum bend radius of the flexible film can be in a range of about the thickness of the film to about twice the thickness of the film. For example, in some embodiments, the minimum bend radius of the film can be in a range of about 0.02 mm to about 5 mm.

The present invention discloses a method for preparing a low-density proppant by taking oil-based mud wastes as raw materials. The method includes following steps: S1, determining content of oils, silicon oxide, alumina and water in the oil-based mud wastes; S2, adding a viscosity modifier, a framework material and a pore-forming agent into oil-based mud wastes so as to obtain mixed slurry; S3, performing ball milling on mixed slurry to form powder, granulating and drying the powder, and forming a proppant pellet billet; S4, performing dehydrogenation pre-sintering on the pellet billet, and performing carbide reaction pre-sintering; and S5, performing final sintering in a natural gas protective atmosphere, thereby obtaining the low-density proppant that takes silicon carbide as the framework material. In the present invention, the low-density proppant is prepared by taking the oil-based mud wastes produced in a drilling process as the raw materials, thereby recycling the oil-based mud wastes.

A composition comprises at least one form of attapulgite present in a solid weight fraction amount ranging from 0.25% to 5%; kaolin present in a solid weight fraction amount ranging from 17% to 50%; and optionally Ball Clay in a solid weight fraction amount ranging from 0% to 25%. Although makeable by other processes, in some embodiments, the composition is makeable by mixing component ingredients. Although usable for other purposes, in some embodiments, the composition is used to make ceramic pieces, e.g., via casting, pressing, jiggering or jollying, especially when the slip has solids, chemistry and viscosity suitable for shaping before drying, sintering, and optionally finishing.

A sealing material including a water-resistant sheet, wherein the water-resistant sheet includes layered clay minerals having a thickness of 0.5 nm to 800 nm. A sealing material including a sheet, wherein the sheet includes modified layered clay minerals in which at least a portion of a first cation between the interlayer of swellable layered clay minerals is ion-exchanged with a second cation, in a first cation being one or more selected from Na.sup.+ and Li.sup.+. A sealing material including a sheet, wherein the sheet includes layered clay minerals having a thickness of 0.5 nm to 800 nm, and having one or more selected from K.sup.+, Ba.sup.2+ and Pb.sup.2+ are contained in at least a portion in an interlayer of the clay minerals.

A method for preparing ceramsite by using municipal sludge as raw material, including the following specific steps: drying; preparing ingredients including raw sludge, fly ash, kaolinite, steelmaking slag, zeolite, hematite, calcareous shale, waste incineration fly ash, Fe.sub.2O.sub.3, waste glass, calcium carbonate, sodium lauryl sulfate, and sodium benzoate; mixing and stirring uniformly, and putting the stirred materials into a granulating machine for granulation; drying and preheating the material pellets after granulation, and then quickly transferring to a sintering device for first sintering at a low temperature and then sintering at a high temperature; crushing large chunks of the cooled materials; and separating and screening the crushed materials. The method of the present invention reduces the generation of the large chunks of the cooled materials in the obtained ceramsite, thereby reducing the subsequent crushing work and saving energy consumption accordingly.

A radon-free ceramic panel includes a mixture including two or more types of stone dust selected from among granite, basalt, limestone, dolomite, elvan, black stone, feldspar, and sandstone, along with waste slag and a non-phenolic adhesive. The ceramic panel is lightweight and has excellent fire resistance, heat insulation, corrosion resistance, water resistance, and ability to act as a bather to radon gas.

A marking system includes a composition having at least one color precursor, a moldable substrate having a color developer, and a marking instrument for applying the composition to the moldable substrate to form at least one mark on the moldable substrate. A method of producing a colored three-dimensional molded object includes the steps of manipulating a moldable substrate having a color developer into a molded shape having an outer surface; and applying, on the outer surface of the molded shape, a first composition having at least one color precursor to a first portion of the molded shape.

Ceramic tiles may be prepared employing a process characterized by the addition to the ceramic raw materials of an aqueous slurry comprising a swellable clay of the smectite family, a binder and a water-soluble salt of a monovalent cation. The ceramic raw materials mixed and then subjected to wet grinding to produce a slip. The thus obtained slip is then subjected to spray drying.

Disclosed are methods of preparing drilling fluid compositions containing treated calcium bentonite. One such method includes mixing calcium bentonite with an aqueous mixture containing soda ash, followed by adding starch to form the treated bentonite mixture that is used to prepare a drilling fluid composition. Another method includes mixing the calcium bentonite with an aqueous mixture containing soda ash and magnesium oxide, followed by adding starch to form the treated bentonite mixture that is used to prepare a drilling fluid composition.