There are about 2.9 billion tons of cereal straws produced per year all over the world, and only in Nigeria there is 55.8 million tons cereal produced per year with rice being 3 million tonnes. Out of these, 600,000 tonnes of rice husk is produced annually which is 20% of the grains. The pozzolanic characteristics of rice husk gives it the potential to be used in the production of blocks.

Here rice husk and straw was collected from rice mill and milled and sieved to reduce the size 0.020mm. The moisture content of the rice husk is 9.98, bulk density is 609.61 and ash content is 18.74.  Rice husk was wetted for 18, 21 and 24hrs and mixed with slaked lime which acts as a binder at the ratios of 3:1 and 3:2. The composite was molded in cuboid form using mechanical hydraulic press with a 100ton capacity. The force @peak was recorded after 21days of drying. The results for 18, 21 and 24 hours of wetting using 3:1 had force @peak of 3500N, 7500N and 11000N. While 3:2 had force @peak of 13000N, 16000N and 18000N for 18, 21 and 24 hours respectively. This shows that the force required to bring about deformation on the block samples after 21 days of drying increased with wetting periods. If well optimized rice husk can be an excellent material for brick production.