A group of former L D Engineering students have developed a brick that not only takes care of the waste produced as a result of mining activities, but is also cheaper and more durable than the conventional bricks.

The team of B.Tech students comprising Dhruv Trivedi, Sugam Thakkar and Dashrath Mistry, used a combination of mining waste, cement and hydrated lime to come up with a brick that unlike the conventional bricks does not require to be burned or require curing by immersion in water.

“The biggest advantage of this brick is that its main source material is mining waste which at present has no use and ends up in landfill. The conventional bricks are made of sand and fertile soil, and if we replace sand with mining waste we are not only addressing the problem of waste but also reducing use of sand,” said Trivedi.

He said the Autoclaved Aerated Concrete (ACC) block that is at present used is not drillable. “This means you can’t drill into it but our brick is drillable too,” said Trivedi. He said the other advantages include 30% higher strength than ACC blocks and 20% less water usage. “The other bricks require curing by immersing them in water. This brick developed by us on the contrary require just sprinkling of water,” said Trivedi.

He said the conventional bricks also require that they be burnt for a long period of time to reinforce their strength. “Often this burning is carried out in furnaces that are powered by coal which in itself is a polluting fuel. Our bricks on the other hand require no such burning,” he said. “The bricks that are right now in use often use fertile soil as their base. When you take away such soil from land to make bricks you are essentially turning the land infertile,” said Trivedi. He said the alternate product offered by them in fact uses mining waste for which as of now there is no other productive use. “It will address the problem of waste as well as prevent fertile soil being used,” he added.