Magnesium oxide as alternative binder for unfired clay bricks manufacturing

Replacement of fired bricks by unfired ones could be an effective way to reduce the building industryenvironmental footprint: Their manufacture not only requires less energy and natural resources but alsogenerates less waste. Bricks are based on the use of an additive cementitious material in the form of a binder,usually lime or cement. Such additives have a great environmental impact owing to the high energy consumptionand CO2during in their manufacturing process. In this article experiments are carried out in order to investigatethe applicability of a MgO rich industry by-product as a binder for the production of unfired clay bricks. Fromthe experiments, the MgO was observed to show ability to enhance the mechanical properties of a clay brick inmuch the same way as lime does. Water absorption tests on bricks revealed the superiority of MgO over lime inenhancing the durability properties of unfired bricks. The laboratory results demonstrate the high potential ofMgO based additives as alternative binders to the calcium based ones. Consequently, this offers opportunity forreducing the environmental impact associated with the use of fired clay bricks. In addition, it could allow aneffective way for the valorization of MgO containing industry by-products that currently discarded to landfills