Sustainable earth walls to meet the building regulations

The thermal conductivity and diffusivity of un-fired clay bricks, a straw clay mixture and straw bales have been measured using a thermal probe technique, with an iterative method for data analysis. The steady-state air-to-air thermal transmittance, or U-value, and the time-dependent thermal properties of some proposed sustainable earth wall constructions are presented. Sustainable cavity walls of un-fired clay bricks with paper, straw or wool cavity insulation have thermal transmittances less than 0.35 W/m2 K, and therefore meet the current United Kingdom Building Regulations. A review of possible methods for thermally up-grading existing earth walls, by adding an internal insulated timber frame construction, again demonstrates possible compliance with the current UK thermal regulations

Housing crisis: Waste glass-stabilized clay for use as fired clay bricks

Scarce and expensive housing and consumer waste disposal are global challenges in today’s world. This study investigated the engineering properties of a clay stabilized with three waste glass sizes (less than 75 μm, greater than 150 μm but less than 75 μm, and less than 300 μm but greater than 150 μm) for the production of burnt clay bricks for earth building construction. Laboratory tests (sieve analysis, Atterberg limits, specific gravity, and compaction tests) were conducted on the clay soil sample, while firing shrinkage, water absorption, unit weight and compressive strength tests were conducted on the fired clay bricks. The unit weight, firing shrinkage and compressive strength decreased with an increasing particle size of the waste glass in the fired clay bricks, while the fired clay bricks absorbed more water as the particle size of its waste glass content decreased. The use of waste glass with particle sizes less than 75 μm for stabilizing the clay was found to produce fired clay bricks with the highest compressive strength. The compressive strength of the fired clay bricks containing less than 75 μm particle sizes of waste glass was increased by 43.9% when compared with the compressive strength of the fired clay bricks having no waste glass. Consequently, waste glass with particle sizes of less than 75 μm is recommended for use in the production of fired clay bricks. The use of waste glass, which could have been a nuisance to the environment, is a potential way of improving the strength of bricks and making them more affordable bricks and consequently, making housing more affordable

Eco-friendly use of eggshell powder as a bio-filler and flux material to enhance technological properties of fired clay bricks

In this work, an experimental investigation on the use of eggshell powder from waste eggshells as an alternative source of bio-filler and flux to enhance the technological properties of fired clay bricks were carried out. Four different batch compositions were formed with eggshell powder as a bio-filler and flux replacing clay-soil up to 15 wt.%. The clay bricks were prepared by the casting method and were fired at 800, 900, and 1000 °C at the heating rate of 8 °C/min for 120 minutes. The raw materials and produced fired clay bricks were characterized by SEM/EDS, XRF, and XRD, respectively. Besides, technological properties of fired clay bricks (eg. water absorption, apparent porosity, bulk density, and compressive strength) were also determined. The results showed that adding 15 wt.% of eggshell powder as a bio-filler and flux yielded a compressive strength of 4.8 MPa, the bulk density of 2.1 g/cm3, and a lower water absorption value of 11.1% at the firing temperature of 1000 °C. Consequently, the use of eggshell as a bio-filler and flux to enhance the technological properties of fired clay bricks is promising and can be considered as an effective alternative method to reduce environmental concerns caused by inappropriate discarding and landfill construction to dispose of eggshell waste

AN OVERVIEW OF WASTES RECYCLING IN FIRED CLAY BRICKS

Brick is one of the most common masonry units as a building material due to its properties.  Many attempts have been made to incorporate wastes into the production of bricks, for examples, rubber, limestone dust, wood sawdust, processed waste tea, fly ash, polystyrene and sludge.  Recycling such wastes by incorporating them into building materials is a practical solution for pollution problem.  This paper reviews the recycling of different wastes into fired clay bricks. A wide range of successfully recycled materials and their effects on the physical and mechanical properties of bricks have been discussed.  Most manufactured bricks with different types of waste have shown positive effects on the properties of fired clay bricks

Producing Lightweight Foam Concrete Building Units Using Local Resources

Brick is one of the most building units used in construction. Locally, this product suffer from many defects; technical, production, specification, and environment impact. Beside the inefficient quality control on the properties of produced building units that lead to negative effects on the overall construction processes. This research aims to produce sustainable alternative bricks using lightweight foam concrete made of local materials to substitute the traditional fired clay bricks. Lightweight foam concrete considered as new construction buildings materials used in construction sector in Iraq, it can produce from available local materials; Portland cement, fine sand, and foaming agent. Detailed information and data was derived from intensive experimental study and laboratory tests for the alternative brick units. Briefly; with density of (1200 to 2000 kg/m3) and brick size of (230*110*70 mm), lightweight foam concrete (LWFC) bricks were produced with properties can efficiently compete the fired clay bricks. The compressive strength was (4-45 MPa), water absorption (1-26%), thermal conductivity (0.10130-0.25375 w/k.m), and shrinkage (0.011-0.056%), with no efflorescence and very little tolerances in all dimension. these results show that there is a possibility for the use of LWFC units as construction units that can compete the fired clay bricks. Keywords: Clay Brick, Lightweight foam concrete, Building units, Mechanical properties

The Influence Of Rice Husk Asp Artial Replacement Material In Fired-clay Brick

Penyusutan bekalan tanah liat sebagai bahan sumber asli untuk penghasilan bata tanah liat bakar dan permintaan yang tinggi dari industri pembinaan The depletion of clay as a natural resource for making fired-clay bricks is in contrast with the high demand from the construction industry

Utilisation of High Energy Propellant Waste in Manufacturing of Fired Clay Bricks to Enhance the Acoustic Properties

The disposal and waste management of solid high energy propellant (HEP) is a considerate conservational problem. HEP waste is currently disposed in open or confined burning which may cause environmental hazards. In this paper, we examined and discussed results on recycling of HEP waste into fired clay bricks baked in different orientation. HEP modified bricks with 1.5%, 3% and 5 wt. % HEP waste content were manufactured and tested, and then compared against virgin clay bricks without HEP content. The effect of directional orientation of bricks baked with varying HEP content on acoustic properties were experimented and discussed. The sound transmission loss decreases with increase in HEP waste due to formation of independently closed directional pores. The transmission loss of horizontally baked during firing of bricks is nearly 5dB lower than vertically baked bricks. Results of the experimental studies indicate that HEP waste can be utilised in fired clay bricks and different orientation baking further enhances the acoustic properties

Incorporation of biosolids in fired clay bricks

In Australia, thousands of tonnes of biosolids are produced and millions of dollars expended for their management annually. Biosolids are derived from wastewater sludge which is the major solid component collected from the wastewater treatment process. This study investigated the incorporation of biosolids into fired clay bricks. Geotechnical characteristics of three biosolids samples produced from Eastern Wastewater Treatment Plant (ETP) in Melbourne were investigated to assess their suitability as a partial replacement material for the clay in fired-clay bricks. Results of classification tests including liquid limit, plastic limit and sieve analysis indicated that the three biosolids samples are silty clayey sand with low to high plasticity. Linear shrinkage of biosolids samples varied from 10% to 15% and organic content from 6% to 14%. Control clay bricks with 0% biosolids and clay-biosolids bricks with 25% by weight biosolids were made and properties including compressive strength, shrinkage, density, initial rate of absorption (IRA), water absorption, thermal conductivity and other properties were determined. The overall results of this preliminary study are promising. Some of the results of this stage of this investigation are presented and discussed in this paper

An Overview of Sludge Utilization into Fired Clay Brick

Brick is one of the most common masonry units used as building material. Due to the demand, different types of waste have been investigated to be incorporated into the bricks. Many types of sludge have been incorporated in fired clay brick for example marble sludge, stone sludge, water sludge, sewage sludge, and ceramic sludge. The utilization of these waste materials in fired clay bricks usually has positive effects on the properties such as lightweight bricks with improved shrinkage, porosity, and strength. This paper reviews on utilization of different types of sludge wastes into fired clay bricks. Previous investigations have demonstrated positive effects on the physical and mechanical properties as well as less impact towards the environment. Thus, the utilizations of sludge waste could produce a good quality of brick and could be one of alternative disposal methods for the sludge wastes

An Overview of Sludge Utilization into Fired Clay Brick

Brick is one of the most common masonry units used as building material. Due to the demand, different types of waste have been investigated to be incorporated into the bricks. Many types of sludge have been incorporated in fired clay brick for example marble sludge, stone sludge, water sludge, sewage sludge, and ceramic sludge. The utilization of these waste materials in fired clay bricks usually has positive effects on the properties such as lightweight bricks with improved shrinkage, porosity, and strength. This paper reviews on utilization of different types of sludge wastes into fired clay bricks. Previous investigations have demonstrated positive effects on the physical and mechanical properties as well as less impact towards the environment. Thus, the utilizations of sludge waste could produce a good quality of brick and could be one of alternative disposal methods for the sludge wastes