Comprehensive Characterization of Agricultural By-Products for Bio-Aggregate Based Concrete

The valorization of available agricultural by-products is important for the development of bio-aggregate based concretes as eco-friendly solutions for building materials. However, their diversity requires to assess their potential of use in vegetal concretes. This study aims to propose simple and relevant multi-physical characterization methods for plant aggregates. Basic and complementary characterizations were carried out on hemp shiv as a reference plant aggregate, and nine by-products available in the South-West part of France, i.e., oleaginous flax shiv, sunflower pith and bark, coriander straw, wheat straw, wheat chaff, corn shuck, miscanthus stem and vine shoot. The basic characterizations performed were those recommended by the TC-RILEM 236 BBM, i.e., particle size distribution, bulk density, water absorption and thermal conductivity. Complementary characterizations have also been proposed, taking into account the possible environment of the binder and the vegetal concrete manufacturing method. The additional tests developed or adapted from previous research assess the following properties: the content of water-soluble compounds at pH 7 and 12, the dry density of plant aggregates compacted in wet state, the real water absorption after compaction and the compression behavior of these compacted aggregates. This complete characterization highlights the distinct behavior of the different agroresources and allows to correlate these characteristics to the use properties of hardened composites