Ecological Brick: A Sustainable Alternative as a Construction Material

Melissa Bocanegra-Salazar, Maria Angelica Angelica Martell Nevarez, Hugo Ramirez-Aldaba, Miriam Mirelle Morones-Esquivel, Emily Garcia Montiel, Pablito Marcelo Lopez Serrano and Luis Paul Fernandez -Mendez

A chapter in Environmental Resilience and Management Annual Volume 2025 from IntechOpen

Abstract: Hemp is a material with multiple uses, one of them being construction; making bricks with this material represents a viable alternative to replacing hand-made bricks and thus avoiding the emission of polluting gases in the firing process. The general objective was to evaluate hemp fiber formulations for the compressive strength of an ecological brick versus handmade clay bricks, physically and mechanically characterizing the different formulations that allow for better compressive strength by adding nopal mucilage. In the methodology, compression tests were carried out following the guidelines of NMX-C-036-ONNCCE-2013, for the absorption tests NMX-C-037-ONNCCE-2013; in addition, specific heat and pH tests were carried out, the results obtained show that the hemp formulations have a higher resistance to compression, in terms of pH, the results were 14.82, considered basic, which results in good cohesion between the materials, and finally the specific heat was low between 0.14 and 0.18 MJ/kg, which makes it a good insulator as it conducts very little heat. In conclusion, hemp bricks proved to be a viable alternative to replace traditional clay bricks, not only because they have better characteristics, but also because of the environmental benefits they offer.

Keywords: ecological brick; hemp; sustainability; compression; construction material (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: Q56 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:ito:pchaps:330990

DOI: 10.5772/intechopen.115631

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