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Sustainability in the manufacture of different construction materials raises many important issues. Nowadays, there is increasing demand for such materials to be produced using environmentally friendly, low energy consuming production methods. This paper presents a review of the current research relating to the use of various production techniques for claybased construction materials. The techniques which will be reviewed are: blending and stabilising, alkali activation (geopolymerisation) and the use of microwave heating as an innovative sintering, curing and drying method. The advantages and disadvantages of each technique will be discussed. Additionally, a comparison between the environmental and economic aspects of the studied production techniques along with some suggestions to improve the sustainability of different production techniques will be discussed.

Lime and/or Ordinary Portland cement (OPC) are the traditional binders used in soft soil 17 stabilisation. However, their manufacture has a negative impact on the environment. This 18 paper reports the results of experimental work for the optimisation of a binary blended 19 cementitious binder (BBCB) using two types of fly ash as an alternative for use in soft soil 20 stabilisation. The optimum content of the high calcium fly ash (HCFA) was initially 21 determined along with the effect of grinding activation on the performance of HCFA. 22 Subsequently, the effect of palm oil fuel ash (POFA) pozzolanic reactivity on the engineering 23 properties of soft soil, stabilised with HCFA, was investigated by producing different binary 24 mixtures of HCFA and POFA. Based on the Atterberg limits and unconfined compressive 25 strength (UCS) tests, the combination of POFA with HCFA results in a considerably lower 26 plasticity index (PI) and higher compressive strength than those obtained from the soil treated 27 with HCFA alone. Substantial changes in the microstructure and binders of the stabilised soil 28 over curing time were evidenced by SEM imaging and XRD analysis. A solid and coherent 29 *Revised manuscript with no changes marked Click here to view linked References structure was achieved after treatment with BBCB as evidenced by the formation of C-S-H, 30 portlandite and ettringite as well as secondary calcite.

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