Manufacturing of green building brick: recycling of waste for construction purpose

This study aims to investigate the use of different wastes as raw materials in the fabrication of sustainable, eco-friendly fired building bricks. Wastes such as demolished bricks, fly ash and rice husk ash (RHA) are used for the development of fired building bricks. Based upon partial replacement of clay by demolished brick waste (5–25 wt%), various samples are prepared with different compositions and the total waste is kept up to 80 wt%. The effect of glass cullet addition on the sintering temperature and properties of fired bricks are also studied. The samples are prepared by the semi-dry process and fired at different temperatures, i.e., 800, 900 and 1000 °C in air atmosphere. All the fired specimens are characterized mainly by physical, mechanical and thermal characterizations. The compressive strength and water absorption are compared with their respective American society for testing materials (ASTM) standards. Results exhibit that 10 wt% glass cullet and 70 wt% other waste demonstrate better properties at 800 °C. These promising results suggest that this study will be open a new window to brick industry for utilization of demolished bricks in commercial production of fired bricks.