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This paper applies to the redesign of a brick in which the selection of the material and the internal geometry are designed to increase sound absorption together with an improvement in structural strength. The definition of the material opportunity is given by the sawmill industry in Mexico, which produces about 2 million tons of sawdust per year,...
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... Zhang et al. [3] have classified the brick-making process based on material and process orientation, which includes fired brick, cement-based, geopolymer-based, and others. The use of waste as a raw material, especially waste that is rich in alumina and silica, like different kinds of slag [7][8][9], tailings mine waste [10][11][12], RHA [13][14][15], cotton waste [16], oyster shell [17], and sawdust from wood [18], for brick production could provide an economical and environmentally friendly solution. Waste materials may be used as inputs for the production of composites, which helps to tackle waste management problems and enhance the qualities of the composites, hence replacing non-environmentally friendly materials [19]. ...
Several researchers have recently worked to create sustainable building materials. One of the fundamental prerequisites for sustainable construction methods and environmental impact assessments is the use of green building materials and manufacturing processes. In this research study, geopolymer bricks were developed using polyethylene terephthalate waste and different industrial by-products (rice husk ash, ground granulated blast furnace slag, red mud, construction, and demolition waste) and investigated their performances. The polyethylene terephthalate waste was used as a replacement for sand filler in the geopolymer brick up to 100%. Key findings include a workability decrease of 14.75% and a compressive strength reduction of up to 75% with 100% plastic waste replacement, attributed to increased voids and weak geopolymer matrix interaction. Dry density consistently decreases, and water absorption rises to 13.73% with full sand replacement, indicating a porous structure. Impact resistance improves with plastic waste inclusion, enhancing ductility and thermal conductivity by 57% at full replacement. Microstructural analyses reveal correlations between physical–mechanical properties and changes in porosity, microcracks, and bond strength. Machine learning, especially linear regression, proves effective for strength parameter prediction (up to 100% efficacy, R-square of 0.998). The promising results obtained could offer a substantial environmentally friendly solution to the building and construction industry in line with Circular Economy principles.
... At the end of life of plastic products, the circular economy ensures appropriate end-of-life options that allow the waste to be used as resources with priority for upcycling the materials. Examples of the recovery and conversion of waste plastics into new value products include making bricks and composite (e.g., Ahmetli et al., 2013;Guzman and Munno, 2015;Lundquist et al., 2020) in road construction (Khan et al., 2016;Appiah et al., 2017), making fabrics and other textiles (e.g., Tshifularo and Patnaik, 2020;Alberghini et al., 2021;Sadeghi et al., 2021) and producing new plastics or other chemicals through chemical recycling by breaking down into chemical component (e.g., Panda et al., 2010;Khoonkari et al., 2015;Rahimi and Garcia, 2017;Thiounn and Smith, 2020). ...
There has been a significant push to transition from the current linear, take, make, use and dispose economy to a more circular system in which materials remain in the economy for a long time and at a high value. This push is particularly prominent in the plastic sector. Many actions towards a more circular plastic economy are occurring, including in Africa. But transitioning to a circular plastic economy faces several barriers in Africa and will require that enabling conditions are in place for success. This chapter discusses these barriers and enabling conditions. It begins by discussing the plastic pollution challenge, including the global and Africa-specific context and impacts. It then discusses the barriers and enablers, including regulatory and institutional, economic and financial, technology and capacity, and societal and cultural. This chapter concludes with the importance of the systems thinking approach in developing solutions for a transition to a circular plastic economy and the need for the government to play a leading role in this transition.
... Studies on the utilization of glass waste in construction have been limited compared to those on the construction of clay bricks with plastic waste. Plastic waste such as containers [13], straws [14], PVC [15], and low-density polyethene were utilised in this investigation [13] [16] [17] [18]. The plastic waste is usually cut into small fibres or strips, but in some cases, it is melted [13. ...
the use of industrial and municipal waste as alternative materials for sustainable brick manufacture has gained significant attention in recent years. The research reviewed in this study has shown that industrial waste such as sludge and coal ash can be utilized in the production of bricks, with clay as the primary binder ingredient. On the other hand, plastic and glass waste from municipal sources have also been explored as potential additives in clay bricks. The results of the studies suggest that the addition of waste materials can increase the water absorption of the samples but can also reduce the compressive strength while increasing the tensile strength of the waste bricks. The studies conducted so far have primarily been done in a laboratory environment and further research is needed to determine the feasibility of these waste materials in large-scale brick production. Overall, the utilization of waste materials in brick manufacturing is a step towards creating more environmentally friendly structures and reducing the negative impact of waste on the ecosystem.
... Moreover, due to the extremely high temperature triggering the crystalline restructuring, fired bricks become a desirable article to immobilize the glass waste containing hazardous substances [2,24,31]. As for plastic waste, since its ignition point is much lower than the firing temperature, the primary purpose of adding it is to increase the porosity of bricks thus reducing the weight, and few studies were found in this field [32]. ...
Recycling of glass and plastic waste has been increasingly attracting the attention of researchers worldwide. Relevant studies have been conducted to prove the feasibility of incorporating glass and plastic wastes into cement-based concrete and fired bricks. However, the high embedded energy and large carbon footprint of these materials have hindered the achievement of sustainable goals. Hence, this study attempts to diversify the recycling pathways for glass and plastic waste via a low carbon route. The brick clay mill residue has been used as a precursor to prepare alkali-activated bricks containing plastic and glass fines with a specific curing regime. The compressive strength, water absorption, linear shrinkage, and microstructure were investigated with varied content of glass and plastic content. The results showed that the maximum acceptable ratio of glass fines was around 55 wt.% for samples with the glass waste solely, achieving the compressive strength of 22 MPa. While foror samples incorporating plastic (PET) waste only, the maximum allowable ratio was only 2 wt.%, because excessive plastic resulted in the spalling of the sample surface. When both the glass and plastic waste were added to the samples, the maximum substitution ratio was 25 wt.% of glass and 2 wt.% of plastics. Scanning Electron Microscope images indicates that the plastic particles had more adverse effects on the microstructure of the alkali-activated samples than the glass particles. There was little or no bonding between plastic waste and alkali-activated mill residues. In contrast, the bonding between glass particles and alkali-activated mill residues was captured. The effect of the addition of glass and plastic samples on the durability of alkali-activated mill residue material needs to be further investigated, such as dimension stability, resistance to salt attack, freeze and thaw, and so on.
... Ekhuemelo and Atondo (2015) and Akhator et al., (2017) discovered that Nigeria generates between 16 and 35 percent of sawdust, equating to around 8.6 million cubic metres per year. In Mexico, 35 percent is produced, whereas Zambia produces between 10 percent and 25 percent (Guzman and Munno, 2015;Ncube and Phiri, 2015 Proceedings of the International Conference on Industrial Engineering and Operations Management Nsukka, Nigeria, 5 -7 April, 2022 ...
... Furthermore, the molding flexibility of WPCs facilitates noise reduction because of their inherent acoustic design as well as feasible LWS irrigation routes [48]. Such structures can also help save space in cities with crowded living styles with its built-in features, as in the case of the WPC bricks with triangular holes, which were used in the study of Guzman and Munno, that registered higher sound absorption than solid clay bricks [51]. ...
As urban crowding has increased globally, the construction industry has not commensurately focused on environmental sustainability or the quality of urban life. In this study, the use of ecofriendly living wall systems (LWSs) and their interactions with acoustic support systems (SSs) were investigated to develop a cost-effective urban greening strategy, emphasizing noise attenuation that promotes environmental sustainability and human health. Jacobaea maritima and recycled-plastic were used to create wood-plastic composites (WPC) for LWS-SSs, and their sound absorption coefficients (αs) were measured in a reverberation room. The results were compared with those of previous studies, indicating the following factors as influences on sound absorption: LWS weight and morphology, SS structure, additional panel absorbers, perforated board design, surface pattern, plant density, plant variety, substrate depth, and greenery coverage. SSs with simple acoustic designs compensated for deficiencies in LWS noise reduction capacity for frequencies under 1,000 Hz. Compared with plants employed in previous studies, J. maritima achieved superior sound absorption and occupied less space. The interactions among factors suggest that weight, which determines the sound absorption capacity of the panels, is the key factor affecting the LWSs. The results also indicated that full greenery coverage is potentially unnecessary, given that slightly less greenery coverage was more cost-effective while still achieving considerable αs and aesthetic charm. To conclude, SS should be carefully considered when designing LWS, and WPC with molding flexibility can help LWS be adapted to diverse topographies. All the aforementioned factors can be adjusted to optimize the effectiveness of urban LWSs.
... Therefore, wood chips are often used as energy fuels or newly leveled additives for recycling (Bouslamti et al., 2012). Waste wood chips are added to concrete bricks made of activated loess cement and gravel to make new environmentally friendly building materials (Aigbomian and Fan, 2013;Munoz Guzman and Trotta Munno, 2015). Studies have been conducted to recycle waste wood chips as filling materials for non-structural embankments, and also have the effect of reducing the concentration of total suspended solids and total nitrogen in surface water (Imteaz, 2017). ...
Carbon dioxide (CO2) and methane (CH4) produced by denitrification bioreactors in processing agricultural surface runoff have contributed to increasing proportion of greenhouse gases (GHG) emissions. It is the first time to monitor and quantify the emission flux of CO2 and CH4 produced by laboratory-scale denitrification bioreactors which recycled waste Cunninghamia lanceolata sawdust (CLS) and industrial sludge (IS) as fillers to process simulated agricultural surface runoff. Sludge-water ratio, inflow rate and water flow direction are used as experimental factors to study the effect on the emission flux of CO2 and CH4. Results show that emission flux of CO2 from denitrification bioreactors with different sludge-water ratio approached 20 mg m⁻²h⁻¹, simultaneously the average emission flux of CH4 produced by all bioreactors was 1.785 mg m⁻²h⁻¹. The addition of sludge increased the emission flux of CH4 and had no significant effect on the emission flux of CO2. Increasing the inflow rate reduced the CO2 emission flux from 21.57 to 1.27 mg m⁻²h⁻¹, and at the same time increased the CH4 emission flux from 0.007 to 9.54 mg m⁻²h⁻¹. The gravity flow of wastewater reduced the emission flux of CO2 and CH4. The emissions of CO2 and CH4 from folded plate denitrification bioreactor with CLS and industrial sludge with a volume ratio of 1:2 can be reduced by 24.67% and 73.3%, respectively. There was no need to add special gas collection and treatment devices because CO2 and CH4 emission fluxes produced by the folded plate denitrification bioreactor and gravity denitrification bioreactor are not enough to increase the greenhouse effect. This study quantified the CO2 and CH4 produced by denitrification bioreactors filling CLS and IS, and provided a reference for future research on the gases produced by the denitrification process.
... The process of compression molding entails a closed application of high pressure to solid plastic waste with the end products becoming of great use in several home and industrial appliances [5]. Unfortunately, whereas more than 500 billion plastic bags enter into the value chain of consumption annually, only about 1% of this gets recycled [6] [7]. In addition, compression molding will reduce plastic waste accumulation in landfills thus actually reducing the environmental pollution attributable to plastic production and disposal. ...
Plastic waste is spread at an unprecedented speed due to the rapid use of domestic and industrial plastic items. The environmental pollution resulting from the continued disposal of plastic wastes in landfills has not only created land problems but has also heightened the pollution of marine resources. This paper aims to review and investigate the feasibility of utilizing plastic waste in making construction bricks. The use of plastic waste in making the sand-plastic bricks will enhance the protection of the environment from the effects of plastic waste that normally takes several millennials to degrade. Thermostatic plastic waste; that is, those polymers whose recycling may not affect the environment, including polyethylene (PE) and polyethylene terephthalate (PET), is found to implore lightweight, durable, cost-effective, and low thermal conductor bricks. Compressive strength (CS) and water absorption tests are found as the key test methods for measuring the effectiveness of high-volume content of plastic waste in bricks. Notably, a high percentage of plastic waste in proportion to sand is found to improve the compressive strength of the bricks besides allowing negligible water to seep through.
... The incorporation of a small portion of plastic to the traditional construction materials like concrete, asphalt, and sand has been reported by various researchers and is currently in use. Few studies discussed the usage of the high ratio of plastic with traditional construction materials which will open the scope for furthering the research in this specific field [12,13]. Water shortage for curing in concrete buildings and the shortage of sand pose a major problem in the prospects of the construction industry. ...
... The advancements in consumer products industry led to large scale consumption of plastics as a packing material which in turn necessitated different methods of recycling other than the primary and secondary ones. Recent studies have demonstrated a new way of incorporating waste polymers in building materials like concrete and mortar [13,27]. Concrete and mortar are the fundamental raw materials in the construction field, widely used all over the world with 4.5 billion m 3 per year. ...
... All common plastic (LDPE, HDPE, LLDPE, PP) can be recycled to a composite material along with sawdust. The study [13] reported that the compressive strength of the plastic-sawdust composite bricks made of equal proportion of LDPE to sawdust with 2% of Fusabond obtained a strength of 4.3 MPa, is better compared to the clay bricks (3.5 MPa) [13]. Based on application and, long and thin plate shape structure, compressive strength studies of such blocks was carried out focusing on horizontal rather than the vertical direction. ...
The rapid growth in the construction industry and the resulting environmental issues due to improper waste management leads to the formation of new construction materials from waste and its residue. This paper is a review of different research approaches that employs waste materials mixed with fillers as construction materials. A refined analysis of construction materials derived from plastic waste in concrete along with sand, clay, sawdust, rice husk, and other fillers are detailed. The different processes involved in the development of materials along with their mechanical behaviour are being discussed. The application of different coupling agents along with plastic waste and fillers which indicates its future applications as a viable material in the construction industry are also explained in detail.
... The incorporation of a small portion of plastic to the traditional construction materials like concrete, asphalt, and sand has been reported by various researchers and is currently in use. Few studies discussed the usage of the high ratio of plastic with traditional construction materials which will open the scope for furthering the research in this specific field [12,13]. Water shortage for curing in concrete buildings and the shortage of sand pose a major problem in the prospects of the construction industry. ...
... The advancements in consumer products industry led to large scale consumption of plastics as a packing material which in turn necessitated different methods of recycling other than the primary and secondary ones. Recent studies have demonstrated a new way of incorporating waste polymers in building materials like concrete and mortar [13,27]. Concrete and mortar are the fundamental raw materials in the construction field, widely used all over the world with 4.5 billion m 3 per year. ...
... All common plastic (LDPE, HDPE, LLDPE, PP) can be recycled to a composite material along with sawdust. The study [13] reported that the compressive strength of the plastic-sawdust composite bricks made of equal proportion of LDPE to sawdust with 2% of Fusabond obtained a strength of 4.3 MPa, is better compared to the clay bricks (3.5 MPa) [13]. Based on application and, long and thin plate shape structure, compressive strength studies of such blocks was carried out focusing on horizontal rather than the vertical direction. ...
The rapid growth in the construction industry and the resulting environmental issues due to improper waste management leads to the formation of new construction materials from waste and its residue. This paper is a review of different research approaches that employs waste materials mixed with fillers as construction materials. A refined analysis of construction materials derived from plastic waste in concrete along with sand, clay, sawdust, rice husk, and other fillers are detailed. The different processes involved in the development of materials along with their mechanical behaviour are being discussed. The application of different coupling agents along with plastic waste and fillers which indicates its future applications as a viable material in the construction industry are also explained in detail.
