'Green' Bricks Proven To Be Greener Than Thought

Researchers have found that bricks made from fly ash--fine ash particles captured as waste by coal-fired power plants--may be even safer than predicted. Instead of leaching minute amounts of mercury as some researchers had predicted, the bricks apparently do the reverse, pulling minute amounts of the toxic metal out of ambient air.

Each year, roughly 25 million tons of fly ash from coal-fired power plants are recycled, generally as additives in building materials such as concrete, but 45 million tons go to waste. Fly ash bricks both find a use for some of that waste and counter the environmental impact from the manufacture of standard bricks.

"Manufacturing clay brick requires kilns fired to high temperatures," said Henry Liu, a longtime National Science Foundation (NSF) awardee and the president of Freight Pipeline Company (FPC), which developed the bricks. "That wastes energy, pollutes air and generates greenhouse gases that contribute to global warming. In contrast, fly ash bricks are manufactured at room temperature. They conserve energy, cost less to manufacture, and don't contribute to air pollution or global warming."

Once colored and shaped, the FPC bricks are similar to their clay counterparts, both in appearance and in meeting or exceeding construction-material standards.


SOURCE:
PhysOrg.com

This is a very cool finding, and only adds to the idea of using these kinds of bricks.

I was actually reading about these 'green' brick in Scientific American earlier today,
so hearing that these bricks are even better than thought really is cool.


Comments, Opinions?

Well I guess its better to have the toxics in a brick than floating around in the air Not really a solution to pollution I suppose but every bit helps I guess. I wonder if you will be having problems tearing the bricks down though if they release the toxic material when torn down you might have issues?

i read about these in popular science.
it seems that they are very chemically based in order to pass basic brick qualifications. i think it is still a good idea but may need to find natural means of making them. they will get more efficient as more research is put into not only the formula and process, but mass producing will let them reuse the energy to make the next brick.

I have heard of fly ash for some time now. The idea of these bricks is a great idea, both its apparent mercury leaching qualities and the fact that it reusing previously waste materials. I have also heard of this as an additive to concrete, making it stronger and more durable.

Fly ash is a fine, glass-like powder recovered from gases created by coal-fired electric power generation. U.S. power plants produce millions of tons of fly ash annually, which is usually dumped in landfills. Fly ash is an inexpensive replacement for Portland cement used in concrete, while it actually improves strength, segregation, and ease of pumping of the concrete. Fly ash is also used as an ingredient in brick, block, paving, and structural fills. Link

Originally posted by Gonjo
I wonder if you will be having problems tearing the bricks down though if they release the toxic material when torn down you might have issues?

I was thinking the exact same thing. What do you do with the bicks after say a 40 year lifetime? Even a small amount of mercury would require it to be reprossesed and disposed of in a environmentaly safe manner