Dried-fruit shell reuse in green construction and building materials

Abstract

Bio-architecture is a new way of designing and building in line with the European Green Deal and in light of the circular economy principles. This new green approach is guiding the entire construction life cycle toward eco-sustainability and environmental friendliness, from the beginning to the end of the building process. In addition to the use of environmentally-friendly and high-performance building and construction materials, it is necessary to use new technologies that can reduce the environmental footprint. This paper aims to examine the possible reuse of biological wastes of agricultural origin of the Mediterranean basin, whose massive production generates a number of problems for their treatment and disposal. In particular, this study focuses on dried-fruit shell reuse, one of the largest Mediterranean productions. The scientific literature is quite sensitive to this topic, with many solutions in reusing these bio- wastes in architecture and civil engineering, and in the context of green building, in order to improve the construction sector sustainability, give new life to waste materials, and ensure a financial surplus for the manufacturing industry. In this context, a deep analysis was carried out to investigate the possibility of blending materials of natural origin and innovative technological materials for applications in construction. The followed methodology was mainly referred to some salient points: to study the relationship between bio-based materials deriving from dried-fruit and their possible applications in construction; to define sustainable technological solutions to implement the environmental quality by using bio-based material. The following outcomes are expected to be achieved by valorising and reusing dried-fruit wastes: the study and analysis of the main scientific literatures focusing on bio-based materials, the identification of innovative and sustainable materials and technologies, the improvement of the environmental quality, and the implementation of laboratory analysis to investigate such innovative bio-based materials.