‘Biobrick’- A novel approach towards masonry industry

Bricks play a major role in construction of systems required by the mankind. With the characterization of the material properties, new and better construction materials are being developed every day. It is observed that theconventional brick making methods and methodologies pose a great threat to the environment as well as the construction itself. the arising problems includes poor quality raw materials, reduced strength, low water absorption capacity and decreased shelf life due to increase in the internal as well as external cracking. These problems can be overcome by the synthesis of novel constructs termed biobricks, which are the result of synthesized clay bricks incorporated with calcium precipitating microorganisms. The current study aims at the preparation of bricks using clay and sand and along with inclusion of bacteria such as Actinomycetes and Bacillus sp. which will pave an effective way to settle down in the natural phenomena. The bacteria eradicate the plugging of pores and avoid the cracks in the concrete by exploiting ‘microbiologically induced calcium carbonate precipitation’ machinery. A comparison between biobricks made by using Bacillus and Actinomycetes was carried out. Also the application of Silver Nitrate nanoparticles synthesized from Actinomycetes can be topically applied over the brick to improve the purity of the biobrick. The synthesized nanoparticles were characterized by UV visible spectrophotometry, Transmission Electron Microscopy and Fourier Transform Infrared Spectroscopy and X Ray Diffraction analysis. Hence the conjugation of biotechnology and nanotechnology can give rise to a strong, ecofriendly, and biodegradable brick formulation.