Company launches eco-bricks that 'absorb carbon'

Sheffield start-up company earth4Earth has developed a range of bricks designed to reduce carbon emissions

A start-up company in Sheffield has launched environmentally-friendly bricks which absorb and permanently store greenhouse gases.

Materials developer earth4Earth, based at Sheffield Technology Parks, said the bricks capture carbon dioxide from the air around them but are also manufactured using methods which do not produce it.

The first batch is now being used in pilot projects across Sheffield.

Co-founder Theodore Hanein said: "We are incredibly excited about how our work is going to help construction projects achieve net zero and the huge difference it will make in restoring planetary health."

'Fully recyclable'

Support manager Anna Simmons explained the bricks were created using soil excavated from construction sites which would otherwise go to landfill.

This was then combined with a newly-developed binder to make the bricks stronger.

However, Mr Hanein said the binder was not like the kind used in traditional bricks which is created by heating limestone to about 1,000°C to create a material called lime.

He said this process created carbon dioxide as a by-product as well as requiring fossil fuels to be burned to reach the very high temperature.

Instead, he said his team had developed a way to create lime at room temperature which released carbon in a solid form instead of a gas.

Ms Simmons added the bricks were "fully recyclable" and, after being crushed, could then be turned into new bricks or used in soil as a fertiliser.

They are currently manufactured in Wuhan, China, then imported into the UK.

However, she said the company was planning to move production next year to further reduce its carbon footprint.

'Huge impact'

John Grant, senior lecturer in climate change and sustainability at Sheffield Hallam University, said it was "critical" to find ways to reduce the impact of the construction industry on the environment.

He said he believed it "consumes more resources and produces more waste than any other single industry" and the creation of common building materials - such as traditional bricks and concrete - was having a "huge" impact.

He said he supported the concept of a lower-carbon brick like the kind developed by earth4Earth but that the company would have to prove the strength and longevity of the bricks.

Mr Grant added that a "vast number of different technologies" would need to be used to negate the amount of pollution from construction.

"We have created a society based around the emission of carbon but we need to pivot on that to something that doesn't," he said.

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