The days of worrying about the disposal of limestone and concrete amassing from excavations and demolished buildings as well as used vegetable oil are over as the Ministry of Municipality and Environment and TLR have successfully developed new innovative building blocks from them.
TRL is a global centre for innovation in transport and mobility. VegeBlock is the name given to these new building blocks which are composed entirely of recycled aggregates and used vegetable oil and offer similar properties of low-strength concrete blocks and highly-suitable for use in construction of non-load bearing structures.
VegeBlock also provides environmental benefits in terms of reduced emissions of CO2 compared to conventional concrete blocks thus will promote sustainability and green construction. VegeBlock is manufactured in a similar way to conventional concrete blocks, except that they are cured at higher temperatures for longer periods.
TRL and the Ministry of Municipality and Environment yesterday launched VegeBlock to help increase sustainability of local construction sector.The announcement was made in a special seminar which was also attended by Dr Mohammad bin Saif Al Kuwari, Head of the Environmental and Municipal Studies Institute – MME and Dr Khaled Hassan, TRL Country Director and Head of Middle-East Infrastructure, said a press release.
“VegeBlock is composed entirely of recycled aggregates and used vegetable oil,” it adds. The project was funded by the Qatar National Research Fund (QNRF) at the Qatar Foundation, National Priorities Research Programme (NPRP).
By using recycled materials and avoiding the use of cement, the cost of production and the carbon footprint of VegeBlock are significantly lower than that of conventional concrete blocks being used today.
Talking to The Peninsula, Tahir Jamil, a civil engineer who works at Kahramaa as project manager termed the development as ‘fantastic’ saying: “It will not only help in addressing the problem of concrete produced from demolished buildings and limestone coming from excavations but will also promote environment friendly construction.” He added that the construction sector would happily adopt VegeBlocks once they hit the market after mass production.
VegeBlock is expected to make a significant contribution to the sustainability of construction in Qatar. VegeBlock contributes to sustainable development and the implementation of the green construction concept through the re-use of materials that might otherwise be disposed of as waste and avoiding the import of the aggregates and cement that are used in conventional concrete building blocks. Carbon footprints results indicated that VegeBlock has a distinct advantage by saving 88 per cent in carbon emission over conventional concrete blocks.
VegeBlock is produced from excavation waste material (limestone) and used vegetable oil. The components are mixed and compacted in a mould and cured in an oven at 170°C for up to two days. The heat treatment results in oxidation and polymerisation of the oil to act as a binder for the aggregate resulting in cured blocks with adequate strength and durability for use as construction blocks.
These innovative blocks have strength and durability properties similar to non-load bearing concrete blocks (M4 & M6 in the Qatar Construction Specifications QCS 2014) but do not require the use of cement, water or imported aggregates.
