An assessment on the sustainable production of construction clay bricks with spent shea waste as renewable ecological material.

The primary objective of this research is to ascertain the potential utilization of spent shea waste as renewable ecological material in sustainable clay brick manufacturing. In this regard, the particle sizes, mineralogical, thermal properties of the brick raw materials were extensively characterized from physical, spectroscopic and thermal analytical methods, respectively. Proportionate amounts of clay materials were replacement with 0%, 5%, 10%, 15% and 20 wt.% of spent shea waste to prepare modeled brick samples via manual pressing, which were fired at 900-1200 °C temperatures. Technological properties including green density, linear fired shrinkage, fired density, water absorption, apparent porosity and compressive strengths of the modeled bricks were investigated. The nature of pores and thermal conductivity of the modelled bricks were also ascertained. The various test results indicate that use of shea waste in construction could contribute to economic firing, improve the fluxing properties of raw materials, and beneficially lighten brick weights as well as enhancing their thermal insulation properties.

Author(s): AN Adazabra, G Viruthagiri, N Shanmugam

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