BRICKS OUT OF COW MANURE

Sacred Heart of Jesus Montessori School, Borja Campus

BACKGROUND OF THE STUDY: A pile of cow manure is not exactly the most

beautiful thing to look at, nor does it smell very good. But despite its unappealing aroma and appearance, cow manure can actually be very beneficial. It fertilizes, it’s organic, it retains moisture, it generates electricity, it can also be a fuel for cooking but now it can also be a very good material for making bricks. It may also be collected and used to produce biogas to generate electricity and heat. Some places have burned cow manure to repel mosquitoes. We can tell that cow manure has a lot of uses despite of its dirty appearance and bad smell.

BACKGROUND OF THE STUDY: Another fact is that cow manure can also be an

ingredient in making bricks. In farming fields, there’s always been a problem of excessive waste. Using cow manure for bricks avoids environmental damage. That’s why instead of using clay bricks, why not use bricks out of animal wastes? The bricks are also not only 20% lighter, but they have a compressive strength 20% stronger than clay bricks and their production doesn’t rely upon devastating quarry mining techniques. This process will raise participating farmers’ incomes by 53%, which will help to raise their quality of life and hopefully they will hire and teach some ex-clay miners how to farm.

SIGNIFICANCE OF THE STUDY:

The bricks are made using 75% cow manure and cured in a biogas heating process that reduces the brick factory’s CO2 emissions significantly over traditional wood fire heat.

We’ve covered the value of worm poop, and now it’s time for the merits of cow manure to come to the fore. Bricks Out of Cow Manure turns cattle waste into bricks that are greener, stronger and 20% lighter than regular clay bricks.

MATERIALS AND PROCEDURES:

Things You'll Need Wheelbarrow Commercial grade Hydrochloric Acid Spade Gloves Brick molder Gumboots Plaster of Paris Trowel Brick dye

PROCEDURE: 1

Pick up dried manure in a wheelbarrow using a spade, or by gloved hand. Treat cow manure using hydrochloric acid or commonly known as muruatic acid to kill possible worms and bacteria. Let dry.

•2 Fill brick form with the manure. Put on a pair of gumboots and press the manure into the molds with your feet, until the manure is compacted and evenly distributed into molds.

•3 Let it dry in a well-ventilated area for two days, or until dehydrated enough to remove from the molds.

•4 Remove the bricks from the brick form, then stack them in a spread out or criss cross pattern so that air can circulate between the bricks. Leave to dry like this for a further three weeks -- four weeks if the weather is humid or rainy. For hardness, preheating in an oven gives the material stronger and firmer

FLOWCHART PROCESS

Cow Manur

eMolder

Pre Heate

d

Finished Product

FINANCIAL ASPECT

The production of bricks out of cow manure based in the material balances is expected to have an output of 144,000 kg per annum. From the market research the price per 500 kg of bricks is P1,068.00 comparing to the price of clay bricks which is P5,340.00 and hollow blocks is P10,680.00.

Raw material = Cow manure

Initial feed = 1 truck load approximately 500 kg = P1,068

Annual production = 288 kg per yr x P1,068.00 per kg = P307,584/yr

Daily production = P307,584 /yr x 1yr/360 days =

P854.40/day

Price Comparison

Truck load

Annual Production

Cost of raw matl.

Price per truckloadSold in market

Annual Savings

Cow Manure

P1, 068

P307,584

P30,528

P1.5M

P259,056

Clay bricks

P5,340.00

P1.5M

P100,000

P1.8

P200,000

Hollow Blocks

P10,680.00

P3M

P450,000

P3.6M

P150,000

TABLE OF COMPARISON