In Massachusetts created eco-bricks
Last reviewed: 16.10.2021
All iLive content is medically reviewed or fact checked to ensure as much factual accuracy as possible.
We have strict sourcing guidelines and only link to reputable media sites, academic research institutions and, whenever possible, medically peer reviewed studies. Note that the numbers in parentheses ([1], [2], etc.) are clickable links to these studies.
If you feel that any of our content is inaccurate, out-of-date, or otherwise questionable, please select it and press Ctrl + Enter.
In India there are more than 100 thousand ovens, which each year produce about 2 billion bricks, so the brick industry in this country is the main source of environmental pollution.
To heat up one furnace requires a large amount of coal and diesel fuel, extremely high temperatures make the working conditions difficult, except for this there is a huge amount of emissions into the atmosphere, which affects the ecological situation of the country.
In Massachusetts, a group of students from one of the universities offered brick producers an alternative option - creating eco-friendly bricks.
Bricks Eco BLAC do not need to be burned, for its production requires unnecessary ash waste from recycling boilers.
In the production of conventional clay bricks, the firing method is used at a temperature of 1000 ° C.
Graduate student Michael Larasi, one of the developers of the project, noted that kilns for firing require huge energy costs, in addition, for these bricks use the topsoil, which leads to depletion of land resources.
For the production of eco-friendly bricks, students took waste paper factories (ash), mixed it with sodium hydroxide, lime, clay. For the production of new bricks does not require high temperatures, the whole process occurs using the method of "alkaline activation", so eco-bricks acquire high strength.
The process of creating eko-bricks was developed at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Bricks production Eco BLAC belongs to a larger project, whose goal is to develop materials for construction that will be produced with a minimum of emissions into the environment and serve for the construction of budget housing in slum areas.
According to preliminary estimates, India's population will reach 1.5 million people in 30-35 years, which will lead to an increase in demand for housing and the need for inexpensive building materials.
The project of the University of Massachusetts must solve two problems: recycling of industrial waste and production of inexpensive material for construction.
Michael Laransi, in his specialty is a civil engineer, he noted that at present the eco-brick is being tested in one of the towns near the capital of India. Such a product is cheaper, compared to conventional, but also it must prove its strength and durability.
So far, everything is going well and the development team hopes that the bricks plant will be located near the paper mill to reduce the cost of transporting the ash.
If the line of eco-bricks is launched into mass production, it will affect the ecological situation in India, in addition, industrial safety will be improved, as there will not be depletion of land resources, and farmers will not be deprived of the soil for growing their products.
[1]