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Mexican Brick Kiln Air Pollution Issues

by Rich Kimura

The Mexican brick kiln is an open pile of stacked bricks. The structure literally burns as the organic material is consumed within the brick, leaving a porous, light, and structurally hard ceramic brick. Unfortunately, the brick kilns generate large amounts of toxic smoke, which drifts across the city of San Ignacio 24 hrs/day. The smoke causes lung damage and genetic changes due to the toxins contained within it.

Jose Luis Orozco runs a successful carpentry shop, He cares deeply for the people in his community and has good political relationships. He may someday be elected as a county governor of a newly re-formed area that includes the city of San Ignacio, Jalisco, Mexico. He attends the Arandas Baptist Church and has a passion for improving the life of people in his region. During a visit there in March 2006, we collected data visited local Jalisco brickmakers, and are interested in partnering with them in the endeavor to improve the air quality there.

A major business in the area is brickmaking. This is due to availability of key materials such as red clay, agave cactus waste, manure, wood and spent-motor oil, and cheap labor. Green, or unfired bricks are formed from a mixture of clay, water, manure and agave waste, and poured into molds and dried. Once dry they are stacked into large piles, forming a kiln, the bricks are ignited using wood or used motor oil. The entire structure literally burns as the organic material is consumed within the brick, leaving a porous, light, and structurally hard ceramic brick. This type of brick "kiln" is simply a large open pile of green bricks with holes at the bottom for fuel, uncontained.
Unfortunately, states Senor Orozco, the brick kilns generate large amounts of toxic smoke, which drifts across the city of San Ignacio 24 hrs/day. The number of kilns burning at a given time may be reduced during the week since children are in school, but on the weekends the smoke is worse since many more kilns are fired up. He estimates that there are over 300 kilns burning at any given time, each with about 20,000 bricks per kiln. These kilns surround the city of San Ignacio upwind of the prevailing winds due the location of hardwood in the local Cerro Gordo mountains. These local kilns, he estimates, produce about 12,000,000 bricks per week for the region. The housing industry in the entire region of Los Altos (The Highlands) is based largely on these bricks for construction. The towns in Los Altos are beneficiaries of the brickmaking from San Ignacio and surrounding area, and include Arandas, Atotonilco, Encarnacion de Diaz, and San Julian. San Miguel uses some brick but also uses a stone quarry.
Separately, it has been determined that Mexico has a reported 15,000 - 20,000 brick kilns burning at any given time, causing some air pollution to reach United States, as documented in areas near Cuidad Juarez, Mexico. Other corporations have tried building pilot furnaces for testing. So far no large-scale conversion to cleaner ovens has been successful.

It is believed that entrepreneurial engineers or business people are best suited for causing broad societal change, which in this case involves environmental improvements. By working with passionate Mexican nationals who care about reducing pollution, such as Senor Orozco, and using free U.S. technical support, we may be able to provide a long-term benefit of fresh air to whole cities. This success could then serve as a model for developments in similar cities. An abundance of technical expertise exists in the U.S., and many engineers or business people may feel underutilized. Consider the supply of technical and business expertise in the U.S., versus the demand in third world countries. Anyone with technical expertise is highly prized and appreciated in poorer countries. Giving talents freely, or in a business venture for profit, can yield priceless satisfaction and joy. And, there is nothing wrong with doing it for profit as well - there is a plenty of economic growth potential at the 'bottom of the pyramid.' A successful example of this model is Engineers Without Borders.

An LLC run by people of the same vision could serve as a vehicle for funding of the feasibility studies, test kilns, and for obtaining political and public support for the project. An economically affordable low-emission kiln is what is needed. The Marquez kiln is recommended. It would use bricks made locally nad can be operated with only minor changes to the brickmakers' way of life. Money is needed for a bricks for the oven structure, and to pay for the labor to build it. Such a kiln can reduce air pollution by over 90%. The people living in towns such as San Ignacio would daily reap clean air benefits, ans such a success would give more political support for rare visionaries such Jose Luis Orozco, and inspire them to do more.