Researchers Create Bricks from Sahara Sand Dunes

Algerian and Malaysian researchers have moulded bricks from the Sahara Sand Dunes. While 5,000 years ago, the Sahara desert was a green retreat for hippopotamuses and giraffes alike, today it is giant sand landscape.

In order to support the weak construction industry, researchers at the Polytechnic School of Algiers and the University of Kasdi Merbah, propose creating a sustainable building material from the sands by transforming dunes into bricks.

According to the study's authors, sand constitutes around two thirds of Algeria. To create an affordable, yet, well insulated and strong with superior mechanical resistance, the researchers tested the sand bricks in their laboratory 750 times.

Bricks Made from Sand

“If the compression and the thermal resistance of [the bricks] are validated by Algerian building material codes, it could solve the building material crises which Algerian builders are suffering from,” researcher Ali Zaidi, from the Department of Civil Engineering of the University of Laghouat in Algeria, explained to SciDev.Net.

According to the researchers, Algeria’s southern region is well suited to accommodate such an industry, adding that their bricks are resistant to frigid nights, scorcher days and even fierce winds storms.

With population growth in the developing world’s increasing urban areas outstripping the housing available, creating bricks from durable and cheap materials certainly prompts interest. By 2030, urban areas are anticipated to accommodate 56 percent of the African population. 

Egyptian building construction firm manager, Mohammed Hebasha, says companies should be established in order to exploit the commercial value of bricks such as these.

Published in the December issue of the Arabian Journal for Science and Engineering, the researchers are not the first to use sand to create science.

In 2012, German 3D designer Markus Kayser harnessed the abundance of sunlight and sand in the Egyptian desert to invent his 3D printer that operates on both these resources. The lens in the print head concentrates sunlight from a bigger Fresnel lens onto a sand tray.

Reaching temperatures of more than 1400c, the focused beam melts the sand to form a ceramic or glass object.

Image Copyright Ikiwaner - Courtesy Wikimedia Commons