# Durability Assessment of Eco-Friendly Bricks Containing
###### Abstract
[22] investigated the use of agro-industrial wastes (quarry dust, shells from oil palm fruit, ash from palm oil fuel, and limestone) for producing sustainable bricks. For the brick production, the coarse aggregates were fully replaced with the shells from the oil palm fruit. OPC was partially replaced with 20% ash obtained from the palm oil fuel, and another 20% by weight of the cement was replaced with limestone, which acted as an admixture. Lastly, fine aggregates were replaced with 50% quarry dust. The results showed that the bricks produced in this study had a lower strength-to-weight ratio of about 0.18. However, when compared to conventional bricks produced with OPC, the sustainable bricks had better late strength development characteristics due to the pozzolanic properties of the ash obtained from the palm oil fuel. In another study performed by [PERSON] et al. [8], bottom ash from non-woody biomass was investigated as a suitable alternative to OPC. In their study, the ashing of different residues from agricultural products was carried out to obtain biomass ash with a high silica content and pozzolanic properties. The results showed that the spelt husk ash and foliage emerged as the biomasses with the most promising properties when compared to OPC. Furthermore, [PERSON] et al. [27] investigated the durability and long-term performance of concrete produced with alternative cementitious materials (ACMs) for up to 900 days. In their study, slag and fly ash were used as alternatives to OPC in producing concrete. The OPC was replaced by weight in stepped increments of 10% from 0 to 30%, and then 45% and 60% replacements were also considered. Short-term assessments at 14, 28, 60, and 90 days and long-term assessments at 120, 365, 730, and 900 days were carried out, and the samples were cured with water. The results showed that the concrete produced with 30% fly ash and 30% slag replacements, had a continuous increase in strength with age up to 900 days when compared to concrete that was produced with OPC, which did not show a significant increase in strength for the long-term assessment. Additionally, scanning electron microscopy (SEM) performed on the samples showed that the concrete with 30% fly ash and 30% slag had dense interfacial transition zones, whereas the OPC concrete had thick and large cracks and interfacial transition zones. Hence, they concluded that the concrete samples prepared with 30% fly ash and 30% slag had properties that outweighed the OPC samples. The natural aggregates (coarse and fine) used to produce concrete are under pressure due to the increased demand for housing, thereby resulting in a gradual depletion of these non-renewable natural resources [7; 8; 14; 23; 24; 25; 26]. Hence, replacing these natural aggregateshas become essential. Different industrial waste products, including bottom ash, copper slag, crushed glass aggregate, crushed hardened concrete waste, crushed spent fired clay bricks, waste tire-crumb rubber, and waste foundry sand, have been studied as potential replacements for fine aggregates in concrete [14; 20; 28; 29; 30]. Research on the use of waste from foundry sand (WFS) as a fine aggregate that was used to replace natural sand for concrete production was carried out by [PERSON] et al. [20]. Their research aimed to enhance the preservation of the Earth's natural resources (sand) while providing the best use of the WFS as an industrial waste product. Slump and strength tests (splitting tensile strength, flexural strength, compressive strength) at 7, 28, 56, and 91 days of curing were carried out on both the control and modified samples, for which OPC was used as the cementing agent. WFS was added to five different mixes (M1-M5) ranging from 0 to 40% in stepped increments of 10%. Compressive strength tests were performed when the samples attained ages of 7, 28, 56, and 91 days.