Two schemes for processing mixtures of soil, cement, and sugar cane bagasse have been
investigated to determine the best way of processing house construction bricks for rural Africa. In
one case, bagasse fibers were treated for removing sugar while untreated bagasse fibers were
used in the other one. Processing house construction bricks from soil, cement, and untreated
bagasse turned out to be the best scheme. A check of sugar content in the best scheme showed
that sugar content was higher than critical sugar content (0,5 g/l) that hampers cement hydration
in concrete based materials; but unexpectedly, cement hydrated in this scheme. Cement hydrated
in these mixtures because sugar from untreated bagasse fibers evolved to the form of
polysaccharides; these molecules are known to bind soil particles together. This study shows that
it is not necessary to treat bagasse fibers prior to mixing it with soil-cement while processing
house construction bricks.