Building Houses out of Garbage, Not Concrete
by Lloyd Alter, Toronto 
on 04. 5.07
Readers have noted that I am not fond of concrete; Dr. Jim Forth of Leeds University isn't either. He has developed the Bitublock, a sustainable low energy replacement for concrete blocks. "Our aim is to completely replace concrete as a structural material," he explained. "Bitublocks use up to 100% waste materials and avoid sending them to landfill, which is quite unheard of in the building industry. What's more, less energy is required to manufacture the Bitublock than a traditional concrete block, and it's about six times as strong, so it's quite a high-performance product."
Crushed glass, incinerator ash and slag are pressed together with bitumen, the goo used to make asphalt and currently being expensively cooked into gasoline at the tar sands, or produced as a biproduct of refining crude oil. The ingredients are heated a bit to oxidise the bitumen and harden into a useful block.
Dr. Forth is also developing a version made from vegetable oil called the Vegeblock. ::University of LEEDS via ::Science Daily, ::PDF of Study Here
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Insulated Bitublock Forms (IBF). Fine by me, bring 'em on!
How can the bitublocks use "100%" waste materials? In the very next paragraph it claims they are made from waste materials AND bitumen, which is not a waste material. Even the name: BITUblocks claims this.
Some illogical dummy must be behind this article.
I bet these blocks smell really good too.
Incinerators are toxic producing technologies.
Incinerators are a financial sinkhole for many governments and taxpayers. Check out the snake oil salesman-like put or pay contracts many incinerator companies require.
Incinerators waste resources.
Incinerators are enablers for wasteful design and production processes.
Incinerators are contrary to the idea of reduce, reuse, and recycle.
Incinerators are contrary to zero waste efforts.
I think this is one hell of an idea. I won't be buying my own home for another 5 years, but I'll definitely keep this material in mind. Only concern is... any long-term problems?
Production impact - no ozone depletion due to the burning of fossil fuels as with cement production.
Strong — between 6,000 & 8,000 PSI
Short curing time — ~15 to 20 minutes
pH Tolerant — 3 to 11
Impervious to water, including salt water
Cures under water
Bonds to all surfaces except glass and plastics
Does not expand or contract
Will not burn — tolerates temperatures > 2,200°F
Sets in cold temperatures — Long life span — > 100 years
rather than using incinerated materials, if the blocks could be made of pre-incinerated waste, and waste bitumen (which currently goes into landfill), then this would be 100% recyclable. on a small scale for home building, a solar oven (in the appropriate climatic zones) could cook the bricks.
the vegeblock is NOT a good idea, since use waste vegetable oil can be used to produce biodiesel.
Looks like it still has concrete mortar to me... way to almost solve problem. Don't forget to add in some rebar and solid grout it.
I not only think this is an excellent discovery, but, potentially, a very profitable one. Establishing a large, energy efficient production plant in the correct geographical location, could generate millions of $'s in inital profit, and 100's of millions in subsequent development and tech licensing.
Problems develop as you look at product development (what about multi-decade deterioration?), government sponsorship (what kind of idiot would supply free waste disposal withou even a tax credit?) and building-industry acceptance (the cement industry will try to bury it all in concrete). It is certainly not a comfortable road for any major investor without some assurances.