Agriculture Waste for Sustainable Building Materials

The construction sector is contributing significantly to the generation of greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions through production processes such as extraction of cement and transportation of raw materials. Similarly, the disposal of agro-wastes such as coconut husks, rice husks, and sugarcane bagasse using standard methods, including incineration, also exacerbates the GHG emissions problem. However, using agro-waste in the manufacture of sustainable building materials is addressing the two challenges and lowering economic costs in construction. This chapter focuses on discussing the different application areas of agro-waste in the manufacture of sustainable building materials. The areas include thermal insulation, cementitious composites and mortars, masonry materials and bricks, particle boards, ceiling tiles, bio-based plastics, and reinforcement. Further review also outlines the applications of artificial intelligence in predicting the properties of agro-waste-based construction materials.