The eco-friendly Bio- bricks are made out of sugarcane bagasse, a dry pulpy fibrous residue left after the cane is crushed for its juice. Priyabrata Rautray, a PhD scholar in the Design Department of IIT-Hyderabad, along with Avik Roy, an Assistant Professor at KIIT School of Architecture, Bhubaneswar were the first ones to design and developed these bio bricks.
A single bio-brick developed at IIT Hyderabad uses up to 900 grams of sugarcane bagasse. If burnt, it would release 639 grams of carbon dioxide. What makes the brick sustainable is that it can also absorb carbon dioxide from the atmosphere. As per the team’s calculation, a single block consumes 322.2 grams of carbon dioxide.
The innovative bio-brick received a Special Recognition Trophy for sustainable housing at Rural Innovators Start-Up Conclave 2019, recently organized by the National Institute of Rural Development and Panchayati Raj (NIRDPR), Hyderabad.
“Bio-bricks are not only more sustainable than clay bricks but, also act as carbon sinks because they fix more carbon dioxide than they produce during their lifecycle, ”Avik said, speaking about the project.
