Valorisation of soils from Kinshasa and Kongo Central regions (Democratic Republic of Congo) for raw earth bricks

Soil is a building material widely used in Kinshasa and Kongo Central regions. Its exploitation is generally artisanal. Soils extracted are largely used for the manufacture of wood-fired bricks, with consequent deforestation problems (Mango-Itulamya, 2015). In order to limit the production energy cost and to produce a sustainable building material, the use of raw earth bricks seems to be a solution. Six areas containing important soil deposits have been selected: Kinshasa, Mbanza Ngungu, Kasangulu, Nkamba, Kwilu Ngongo, and Lukala. Soils of these 6 zones were sampled and used to make raw earth bricks.