Development of porous fired clay bricks with bio-based additives: Study of the environmental impacts by Life Cycle Assessment (LCA). (30th October 2016)

• Record Type: Journal Article
• Authors: Bories, Cecile; Vedrenne, Emeline; Paulhe-Massol, Anne; Vilarem, Gerard; Sablayrolles, Caroline
• Is Part Of: Construction & building materials. Volume 125(2016)
• Page Start: 1142
• Page End: 1151
• Publication Date: 2016-10-30
• Subjects: Building materials -- Waste material -- Porosity -- Thermal resistance -- Environmental impacts; Building materials -- Periodicals; 624.18
• DOI: 10.1016/j.conbuildmat.2016.08.042
• Languages: English
• ISSNs: 0950-0618

Abstract

Highlights: Vegetable and chemical additives have been incorporated to the clay matrix. Physical, mechanical and thermal properties of the bricks have been characterized. Lighter and more insulating bricks were developed (best results for 1 wt.% WS). A Life Cycle Assessment of the developed materials has also been conducted. The incorporation of additives reduced the environmental impacts of the bricks. Abstract: The incorporation of bio-based pore-forming agents, from either agricultural (wheat straw – WS and olive stone flour – OSF) or chemical (glycerol carbonate – GC and dimethyl carbonate – DMC) origins, into clay formulations, has been investigated. Fire clay porous tablets have been manufactured at laboratory scale and characterized through physical, mechanical and thermal properties. An increase of 7.2% of the porosity correlated to a decrease of 7.0% of the thermal conductivity was measured for the best samples. The environmental impacts of these formulations have also been examined through a Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) using the ReCiPe v1.10 method. It was noticed that the incorporation of pore-forming agents led a decrease of about 15–20% of all the studied impact categories. The advantage of the use of bio-based additives in clay bricks was then confirmed from both performance (lighter material with a better thermal insulation) and environmental points of view.