RMIT Researchers Develop a Lighter, Better Brick Made With Cigarette Butts

One man’s trash is another man’s building material. Researchers from the Royal Melbourne Institute of Technology (commonly known as RMIT University) have developed a technique for making bricks out of one of the world’s most stubborn forms of pollution: discarded cigarette butts. Led by Dr. Abbas Mohajerani, the team discovered that manufacturing fired-clay bricks with as little as 1 percent cigarette butt content could completely offset annual worldwide cigarette production, while also producing a lighter, more efficient brick.

Courtesy of RMIT University

Dealing with cigarette waste is one of the world’s most difficult environmental dilemmas: billions of cigarettes are littered worldwide each year, causing millions of tonnes of toxic waste containing metals like arsenic, chromium, nickel, and cadmium to be released into soil and waterways.

According to Dr. Mohajerani, "About 6 trillion cigarettes are produced every year, leading to 1.2 million tonnes of cigarette butt waste. These figures are expected to increase by more than 50 per cent by 2025, mainly due to an increase in world population.

© Flickr cc user restlessglobetrotter. Licensed under CC BY 2.0

The solution? Introducing the accumulated cigarette butts into the clay of bricks before firing. In addition to the environment benefits, Mohajerani’s team found that adding the butts cut the energy expended in the firing process by up to 58 percent. The finished bricks maintain the comparable structural properties to normal bricks, but were lighter and had better insulation capabilities. The firing process also traps the poisonous pollutants from the cigarettes inside the bricks, so they can’t be leached into the environment.

"Incorporating butts into bricks can effectively solve a global litter problem as recycled cigarette butts can be placed in bricks without any fear of leaching or contamination,” says Mohajerani. "They are also cheaper to produce in terms of energy requirements, and as more butts are incorporated, the energy cost decreases further."

News via RMIT's post on EurekAlert, H/T Science Daily

About this author
Cite: Patrick Lynch. "RMIT Researchers Develop a Lighter, Better Brick Made With Cigarette Butts" 10 Jun 2016. ArchDaily. Accessed . <https://www.archdaily.com/789249/rmit-researchers-develop-a-lighter-better-brick-made-with-cigarette-butts> ISSN 0719-8884

© Flickr cc user letsbook. Licensed under CC BY-NC-ND 2.0

RMIT 皇家墨尔本理工大学研发人员使用烟蒂制造出了一款更加好用的轻型砖头

You've started following your first account!

Did you know?

You'll now receive updates based on what you follow! Personalize your stream and start following your favorite authors, offices and users.