Research

Engineering Sciences

Title :

Technology Package for Eco-Friendly Burnt Clay Bricks with Low Carbon Footprints

Area of research :

Engineering Sciences

Focus area :

Eco-Friendly Burnt Clay Bricks with Low Carbon Footprints

Principal Investigator :

L.P. Singh, Scientist, CSIR-Central Building Research Institute (CSIR-CBRI), Roorke

Timeline Start Year :

2020

Timeline End Year :

2022

Contact info :

Details

Executive Summary :

Objective: The objective of the project is to devlop "a technology package for the manufacture eco-friendly and energy efficient burnt clay bricks and the specific objectives are

Summary: India is the second largest producer of burnt clay bricks after China. Approximately 1,00,000 bricks kilns producing around 250 billion bricks, employing about 10 million workers and consuming about 35million tons of coal annually, is a small scale traditional rural/urban industry. The sector is also one of the largest emitters of greenhouse pollutants, emitting approx. 100 million tonnes of CO2, 0.75 million tonnes of particulate matter and 0.12 million tonnes of black carbon into the environment. Brick sector is considered as one of the most polluting and resource intensive sector. The sector consumes approx. 600 million tonnes of top soil annually and is the third largest consumer of coal (35 MT) after steel and cement. Fuel cost in the brick sector is around 45-50 percent of the total cost. The use of internal fuel not only results in proper heating of bricks while firing but also reduces overall fuel consumption. This will also significantly reduce the overall environmental impact of brick making process. In this proposed process, powdered fuel will be mixed with clay prior to the moulding of bricks and will serve as a fuel during firing. Cheaper fuels, such as agriculture waste (bagasse, Rice husk, sawdust, etc), and pulverized reject-coal of thermal power plants can be used as internal fuels and can help to the reduce fuel cost and pollution. As the brick is heated in the kiln, combustion of internal fuel takes place and brick body is heated from inside to outside in the kiln. However, in this case as the fuel particles are entrapped in the brick body, the ash associated with them remains inside the brick and does not come out and thus reducing the pollution. By using internal fuel process/ technology Coal consumption may be reduced up to 30%. Reject-coal contains combustible matter that’s why it cannot be safely disposed of, principally due to problems of self-ignition. These rejects have caloric value in the range of 1,800-2,400 kilocalories per kilogram (kcal/kg). This reject-coal can be used as an internal fuel in brick. Cheaper fuels, like agriculture waste (Rice hush, sawdust etc) also can be used as fuel in brick kiln. The SPM emission level can also be reduced to a level below 100 mg/Nm3. Also, greenhouse gas emission can also be reduced to a significant level.

Organizations involved