Message-ID: <951115175934_107475494@emout04.mail.aol.com> Date: Wed, 15 Nov 1995 17:59:36 -0500 From: Reid Harvey <mailto:ATTICERAM@AOL.COM> Subject: Details - Bricks in Sudan To: Multiple recipients of list DEVEL-L <mailto:DEVEL-L@AMERICAN.EDU>
Here is an abstract, just submitted to the Design Division of the American Ceramic Society. This presentation will be included at their annual convention in April 1996. Meanwhile, the Building Institute of Khartoum University will be proving the kiln, currently under construction. The abstract is as follows:Designing Building Materials for Sub-Saharan Africa. A. R. Harvey, The Building and Road Research Institute of Khartoum University, Khartoum, Sudan.
W. J. Walker, Jr.*, Alfred University, Alfred, NY.
x In the Khartoum area, 600 million bricks are produced annually, fired in inefficient, wood burning clamp kilns. At the same time the desert is advancing at six kilometers annually. x A newly introduced, vertical tunnel kiln will use as fuel such agricultural waste products as cotton stalks or bagasse, first milled then dispersed among the bricks. Less than half the energy of the clamp kilns will be necessary, largely because incoming brick at the top of the kiln is preheated using the waste heat of a central firing zone. x Sudan's vertical tunnel kiln is the first of its kind in Africa. Its adaptation offers a design that is sustainable for Sudan and other countries of the region.
Reid Harvey P.S. It should be clear that such building materils and methods as adobe and cinva ram are preferable. But construction brick has become the material of choice for those who can afford it. Old habits are not easily changed.