Experimental Study on the Potential Utilization of Olive Oil Production Wastes and By-Products as Building Materials

The construction industry is one of the sectors with the greatest environmental impact resulting from the high consumption of resources and the huge amount of waste generated. In addition, different wastes and by-products originate from various sectors of activity, namely the ones related to the agricultural sector, requiring the urgent actions of recycling and reuse. In this context, this investigation focused on the valorization of wastes and by-products resulting from the olive oil production as building material components. Wet bagasse was added to cementitious mixtures at percentages of 5% and 20% to produce solid blocks. Lime mortars, incorporating 2% and 8% of ash, were developed, and particleboards composed of 83% olive stone were also produced. The results showed that blocks with 5% waste complied with the standard requirements for flexural strength. The incorporation of 2% ash increased the mechanical properties of lime mortars when compared to a reference mortar with no ash. The developed particleboards revealed the possibility for being part of a multilayer solution or as a covering material, presenting a thermal conductivity of 0.08 W/mK. Thus, wastes generated during olive oil production presented potential for valorization as building material components for non-structural purposes.