Researchers from IIT-H and KIIT Odisha develops ‘bio-brick’ out of agro-waste

NEW DELHI: Researchers Architect Priyabrata Rautray, a PhD scholar at Design Department of Indian Institute of Technology (IIT) Hyderabad and Architect Avik Roy, assistant professor at KIIT School of Architecture, have developed bio-bricks from agricultural waste. The product serves dual purposes – it is a better waste management technique and it promotes the use of eco-friendly and sustainable building materials.

The research work was undertaken in the guidance of Deepak John Mathew, head of Design Department, IIT Hyderabad, and Boris Eisenbart from Swinburne University of Technology, Australia. The research results have been presented at the International Conference on Engineering Design (ICED-2019) at TU Delft, the Netherlands.

The research team also received a Special Recognition Trophy for sustainable housing at the Rural Innovators’ Start-Up Conclave-2019, organised recently by the National Institute of Rural Development and Panchayati Raj (NIRDPR), Hyderabad.

The process starts with careful selection of the dry agro-waste like paddy straws, wheat straws, sugarcane bagasse, and cotton plant.

Architect Roy said, “Bio-bricks are not only sustainable when compared to clay bricks, but are carbon sinks as they fix more carbon dioxide than they produce during their life cycle.”

Reusing agricultural waste is very important in a country like India, where more than 500 million tonnes of agricultural waste is produced every year. While some of the waste is reused as fodder, 84 to 141 million tonnes are burnt which is the major cause of air pollution, especially in northern regions of the country.

Although the only issue with the bio-bricks is that these are not as strong as burnt clay bricks and cannot be used directly to build load-bearing structures. However, these can be used in low-cost housing with a combination of wooden or metal structural framework.