Oxypolymerization in the Manufacture of Bricks Based on Gold Mine Tailings and Cooking Oil as a Binder

This study presents the development of an eco-friendly brick for mining, a sustainable composite material manufactured from gold mine tailings and used cooking oil (UCO) through a thermal oxypolymerization process. Unlike conventional stabilization methods, which often require additional materials beyond tailings or have a high carbon footprint in their production, this approach uses oxypolymerization to transform these two waste products into novel building materials. The use of various percentages of UCO at different heating temperatures was evaluated to identify the optimal mixture, determining that a 9% UCO content and a 9 h cycle are key conditions for inducing fatty acid crosslinking. This logical relationship between heat treatment and dosage allows the organic binder to consolidate the mineral matrix, giving the material a compressive strength of 19.12 MPa and a flexural strength of 8.24 MPa, exceeding the thresholds of the NTE INEN 297 standard. The low water absorption (2.86%) is attributed to the densification of the matrix and the hydrophobic nature of the polymerized oil, indicators of its structural durability. This work is the first to use Ecuadorian tailings as the sole mineral aggregate, validating a high-efficiency, low-impact product for sustainable construction under the principles of the circular economy.