Developing advanced techniques to reclaim existing end of service life (EoSL) bricks – An assessment of reuse technical viability

Abstract

Structural bricks are highly durable building products. However, brickwork is mostly demolished long before the end of its technical service life; the majority are crushed to form aggregate or else landfilled. Urban mining and circular economy are stimulating interest in the potential to recover structural products from end-of-service-life buildings for direct reuse. For brickwork, separating bricks from cement-based mortar, as opposed to lime-based mortar, without damage to bricks is a major barrier. This paper presents two advanced techniques based on saw-cutting and punching, to demonstrate the technical feasibility of brick reclamation. Compared to new bricks, reclaimed bricks have similar visual appearance and their compressive strength differs by −4.8% to +40%. Design formula for compressive strength of masonry in current codes can be applied to reclaimed bricks. The reclamation process achieves reclaim rate of over 95% and has significantly lower energy consumption, and carbon requirements (<1%) relative to new bricks.

Keywords

• Brickwork
• Masonry
• Reclaim
• Circular economy
• Reuse
• End-of-Service-Life