Bio-brick grown from urine, University of Cape Town

First bio-brick grown from human urine by students at the University of Cape Town, under the supervision of Professor Dyllon Randall, 2022

In 2022, an estimated 7 8% of global carbon emissions caome from producing cement and bricks. This bio brick aimeds to be part of the solution to lower those emissions and was grown for the Science Museum by students in the Civil Engineering department of the University of Cape Town, under the supervision of Professor Dyllon Randall. The research behind it signalled a world first when, on 24 October 2018, the team announced that they had successfully grown a bio brick using real human urine, and this particular brick was produced in the same way. The research was borne out of a desire to re think ‘waste’ as a valuable resource. The recovery and usage of the urea and calcium components in urine is what allowed for the creation of the bio brick. It is a sustainable process that actively reduces carbon dioxide emissions by avoiding both the need to use traditional cement, and avoiding the emissions created during the firing of bricks at high temperatures.