Elaboration of bio-based building materials made from recycled olive core

Highlights Use of olive core wastes as sand in self-compacting mortar (SCM). The behavior of SCM with olive core waste is evaluated by the physico-mechanical and thermal properties of different mixes. The bulk density and thermal conductivity are improved by using of olive core wastes. Abstract The recycling of organic wastes in the field of civil engineering is a very important process as long as the products to be obtained are not subjected to stringent quality standards. This research is a part of the general policy of saving energy and protecting the environment. Its aim is to study the possibility of developing a new insulating building material by recycling vegetable waste from the olive processing industry (olive core) that discarded in nature. After having been sorted, dried and then extruded in the form of grains, these wastes are incorporated as fine aggregate (sand) in the manufacturing of self-compacting mortar (SCM) by substituting the mass of sand with different percentages (10, 20, 30 40 and 50%). The physico-mechanical and thermal properties of the obtained SCMs are analyzed and compared to the control. The results of this study show a decrease in density and compressive strength of SCM by increasing the content of olive core wastes. However, the thermal properties of SCM are improved through replacing sand by such wastes, which could allow using olive waste core based SCM in various types of nonstructural components with intriguing insulating properties. Graphic abstract