Skip to main content

Sustainable bricks from KENOTEQ

UK firm KENOTEQ is offering a sustainable construction product in the shape of an unfired brick that is made from waste materials. Construction and demolition waste make up around 90% of the materials used in the firm’s novel K-Briq.
August 19, 2021 Read time: 1 min
A novel brick is now offered that is made from waste materials

The company is a clean-tech spin-out from Heriot-Watt University and is looking to commercialise production of its brick. The aim is to supply more than two million bricks/year.

The K-Briq is made from over 90% recycled demolition and construction waste materials. It has just 10% of the CO2 emissions of a traditional fired brick for its production and requires less than 10% of the energy in its manufacture.

The firm says that the production of this type of brick reduces the need to send waste materials from construction and demolition to landfill. In addition, production also slashes energy use, both in manufacturing and also in use as it has double the insulation properties of existing bricks and blocks. By using recycled pigments, it can be made in a range of colours providing flexibility to architects and design planners.

The K-Briq was conceived by Professor Gabriela Medero from Heriot-Watt University following more than a decade of research and development into creating innovative, low-carbon products from recycled construction waste. Professor Medero is co-founder and technical director of KENOTEQ, which launched in January 2020.

Related Content

  • Rome airport taxiway rebuild work
    May 5, 2020
    Rome airport taxiway has benefited from rebuilding work.
  • Bitumen technology reduces maintenance costs
    April 12, 2023
    Looming net zero deadlines, and impetus from the private sector are accelerating the take up of carbon-saving technologies
  • Concrete competition
    February 13, 2012
    The concrete paving market has provided stable ground for existing players, though key market developments are in hand. US manufacturers have long dominated the concrete paving sector with well-known firms such as GOMACO, Guntert & Zimmerman, Power Curbers, Power Pavers and Terex all being based in the US, while German firm Wirtgen is Europe's leading contender in this market. However there is some jostling for position in the concrete paving sector, with some of the players looking to enter new segments. T
  • Finnish forest fuel source found efficient
    July 4, 2013
    Research carried out in Finland reveals that an innovative new gasification method can turn forestry waste into biofuel with less than €1/litre. The VTT Technical Research Centre of Finland says that lignocellulosic biomass can be processed using new technology developed in Finland to transfer of more than half the energy of wood raw waste into fuel.