Science has succeeded in turning used frying oil into sustainable, mortar-free eco-bricks. A probable future building material for our homes.
The homes of the future could be built with bricks obtained from waste oil without the need for mortar. This involves the transformation of waste oil into low-cost waste raw material. Australian researchers carried out this study to find a viable option for bricks used in construction.
These are sustainable materials , replacing concrete, iron and steel which account for more than 15% of CO2 emissions. Science has thus obtained a light but strong polymer. The scholars started with dicyclopentadiene, sulfur and spent canola oil , which is a waste used possibly as an economic raw material. It is abundant and inexpensive, so as to obtain a low-cost finished brick that can then be reused as waste.
Such a building material has another advantage: the bricks are capable of adhering to each other thanks to the chemical bonds between sulfur atoms. Mortar and other adhesives become superfluous. This provides for a greater reduction in the environmental impact , also reducing costs and difficulties in the construction and use of bricks. The resulting brick can only be obtained from waste cooking oil, a mix of sulfur and dicyclopentadiene. Both this and the sulfur are by-products deriving from oil refining.
The mortar is no longer needed to bind them, because there is an amino catalyst . Here you get a sustainable and strong building material that will simplify everything. Now the team is taking steps to market the product, perhaps in a short time they can be found already on sale.
- Walls from waste! Scientists transform used frying oil into sustainable eco-bricks that do not need mortar (greenme.it)