bioMASON have developed a technology that uses microorganisms to “grow” bricks, as a market-viable, green alternative.

bioMASON have developed a technology that uses microorganisms to “grow” bricks, as a market-viable, green alternative.

Approximately 85% of global construction uses masonry; over 1.23 trillion clay bricks are manufactured every year, and cement manufacture is among the most carbon and polluting of industries. As an alternative to traditional clay brick manufacturing, which is responsible for approximately 800-million tons of global CO2 emissions every year and many deaths globally from air pollution, BioMASON “grows” durable bricks comparable in strength to calcite-cemented sandstone by using biomass, aggregate, nutrients, minerals, and bacteria to produce a natural bio-cement in less than three days in ambient temperatures, a process similar to how corals form through bio-mineralization/calcium carbonate fixation. The nutrients and minerals required are globally abundant renewable resources but may be also extracted from industrial waste streams, contributing to remediation efforts and making this mode of brick production even more ecologically beneficial. This highly promising project is an inspiring exemplar of a biomimetic strategy that finds non-polluting, benign solutions to human needs by emulating natural processes.