A low environmental impact admixture for the elaboration of unfired clay building bricks

•It is proposed the formulation of an admixture for the fabrication of unfired clay bricks.•It is possible to obtain an unfired clay-based material utilizing low environmental impact admixtures.•Results showed a 94% reduction in fossil fuels due to unburning material to be sintering. Large quantities of carbon dioxide (CO2) are emitted to the atmosphere during the traditional burning brick process, taking part in the construction industry affectations. This paper presents an alternative way that faces environmental issues by using low-Impact materials in construction; for this purpose, it is proposed the formulation of an admixture for the fabrication of unfired clay bricks. Three different clay-base formulations were developed to analyze their behavior underwater, plasticity, and drying time to determinate the best one to get an unfired brick. The sample with the better performance underwater was tested to water absorption and compressive strength tests. Results show that it is possible to obtain an unfired clay-based material utilizing low environmental impact admixtures to elaborate construction bricks. Finally, a Life Cycle Analysis assessment was conducted to determine CO2 emissions when utilizing the propossed formulation.