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Development of an Ecovillage Green Brick Incorporating Agricultural and Plastic Waste Material as Cement and Sand Replacement



The Faculty of Engineering, Built Environment and Information Technology has successfully obtained an internal research grant from MAHSA university to study the development of green bricks comprising agricultural and plastic waste. As demand for affordable and quality houses increases in the 12th Malaysia Plan (2021-2025), issues regarding environmentally sustainable construction gain more prominence as specified by the Construction 4.0 Strategic Plan (2021-2025). 

Hence, research on green bricks utilizing agricultural and plastic waste was proposed. The green brick (which will be named the Ecovillage Green Brick) comprises cement, Palm Oil Fuel Ash (POFA) and Rice Husk Ash (RHA) and PET plastic waste. These selected agricultural wastes are pozzolanic materials allowing the possibility of replacing cement whilst shredded PET plastic waste (retain at a sieve size of 5mm) were to replace fine aggregate by weight. 

An initial trial mix design of cement, sand, and water/cement ratio of 1:3:0.45 with a compressive strength of 20 MPa to 30 MPa will be targeted. The first phase of the research was to determine the optimum replacement percentage of waste materials through the various material testing and mechanical properties of fresh and hardened tests. Upon successfully obtaining the optimum mix design, the green cementitious material will be formed into bricks designed in accordance with the Malaysian Standard MS 1064: Part 8: 2001 Guide to Modular Coordination in Buildings and ASTM C90 standard codes. 

The characteristic strength of the individual and prisms of the green brick will be subjected to an axial compression load test applied vertically. By the end of this research work, a green building material comprising of agricultural and plastic waste will have been defined, and the development of an Ecovillage Green Brick and its strength characteristic properties will be established. It is expected that the Ecovillage Green Brick will provide an environmentally sustainable building system with eco-friendly properties that meets the requirements for carbon footprints and the Sustainable Development Goals (SDG). Finally, the Ecovillage Green Brick will eventually meet the demand for affordable and quality housing in Malaysia.

Words by: Professor. Ir. Dr. Abdul Aziz Bin Abdul Samad

References

1) 12th MP, Economic Planning Unit, Twelve Malaysia Plan 2021-2025. Prime Minister's Department.

2) MS 1064 : Part 8 : 2001 Guide to Modular Coordination in Buildings: Part 8 : Coordinating Sizes and Preferred Sizes for Masonry Bricks and Blocks

3) Zeyad, A. M., Megat, M. A., Tayeh, B. A., & Yusuf, M. O. (2017). Pozzolanic reactivity of ultra-fine Palm Oil Fuel Ash waste on strength and durability performances of high strength concrete. Journal of Cleaner Production, 144, 511–522.

4) Zareei, S. A., Ameri, F., Dorostkar, F., & Ahmadi, M. (2017). Rice Husk Ash as a partial replacement of cement in high strength concrete containing micro silica: Evaluating durability and mechanical properties. Case Studies in Construction Materials, 73-81.

5) Wahid, S. A., Rawi, S. M. & Desa, N. M. (2015). Utilization of Plastic Waste in Sand Bricks. Journal of Basic and Applied Scientific Research, 5(1), pp. 35-44.

6) Mageswari, D. M., Chiranjeevi, J. S., & Magesh, K. (2018). Plastic Bricks. International Research Journal in Advanced Engineering and Technology (IRJAET), 4(2), pp. 3167–3172.

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