ABSTRACT
The demand for concrete in building and highway construction is increasing at a considerable rate and is expected to be the case for the foreseeable future. Alongside its production and application, energy and natural resources consumption take place, making buildings and infrastructures less sustainable. Recently, efforts have focused on finding new alternatives for raw materials worldwide, such as recycled materials and waste treatment byproducts, in order to reduce energy costs, mitigate landfilling and open dumping of waste, generate income and approach an overall greener built-environment. Bio-mass derived byproducts are currently scrutinized as environmentally friendly substitutes for fine aggregates in cementitious and asphaltic composites, promoting the conservation of dwindling non-renewable resources. Nonetheless, no definite framework or guidelines exist for the methods to predict and assess the performance of such composites with respect to various criteria including structural, mechanical, durability, comfort and esthetics, environmental and economic impact. This paper aims at introducing different testing techniques for the examination of a new green material named biochar, a byproduct of the pyrolysis of Municipal Solid Waste (MSW), as a sustainable replacement of fine aggregates in construction materials, cementitious mortar in specific. A two scales investigation plan is proposed, which allows for the bridging between the material’s microstructure and composition and the mechanical and durability performance of mesoscale biochar based mortar composites.
