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Elsevier

Biomass Waste and Byproducts in Construction Materials

  • 1st Edition - October 15, 2026
  • Latest edition
  • Editors: Francisco Agrela, César Medina, Belén González-Fonteboa, Julia Rosales García
  • Language: English

Biomass Waste and Byproducts in Construction Materials explores processing techniques to optimize the properties of different biomass-derived products, guiding readers throug… Read more

Description

Biomass Waste and Byproducts in Construction Materials explores processing techniques to optimize the properties of different biomass-derived products, guiding readers through material selection that is suitable to specific applications depending on the required performance. Next, a variety of expert studies, including lifecycle assessment and lifecycle cost analysis, 3D printing, and perspectives on BBA formulations describe recent progress in the use of biomass in building materials. Finally, high value-added applications are detailed, rounding out a comprehensive investigation into effective ways to significantly reduce the carbon footprint of construction composites while also contributing to waste-to-wealth strategies.

Readers will find this to be a single-point reference for researchers, practitioners, and other AECO stakeholders interested in innovative building components developed with organic materials' residues and derivatives.

Key features

  • Discusses various techniques for processing biomass waste and byproducts to improve their properties for use in construction materials
  • Explores the use of biomass byproducts in cement-based materials, including their role as aggregates, binders, and additives in lightweight concrete and mortars
  • Presents innovative approaches to sustainable construction
  • Offers insights into the lifecycle of biomass waste applications and related cost analysis, demonstrating their economic and environmental advantages
  • Includes case studies that exemplify the successful performance of biomass-based materials in real-world construction projects

Readership

Academics, researchers, and postgraduate students in materials science for construction; construction engineering; civil and structural engineering; sustainable built environment; environmental engineering.

Table of contents

Section 1 – Biomass processing and techniques for improving the properties of biomass

1. Application of biomass waste and byproducts in construction materials

2. Bioprocess and biomass conversion technology

3. Optimizing biomass ashes for concrete: effects of pre-processing techniques

4. Characterization of bottom ash from biomass combustion for its use as aggregate in cementitious materials

Section 2 – Progress in the use of biomass in building materials

5. Improving the circularity of construction sites and the geotechnical properties of soils through the use of biomass wastes

6. Lifecycle assessment and lifecycle cost analysis of biomass bottom ash as a building material

7. Use and potential exploitation of biomass ashes as precursors for construction materials

8. Use of biomass ash in geopolymer materials: for insulation of structures and other environmental applications

9. Biomass byproduct to improve shrinkage behaviour in high-strength concrete

10. Biomass as a base material for 3D printing

11. Reactive magnesia composites with rice husk ash and bamboo leaf reinforced with cellulose fibers

12. Reuse of biomass ashes to enhance durability and mechanical performance of building materials

Section 3 – Application in cement-based materials

13. Latest trends and application of biochar in cement-based materials

14. Biomass ash as a supplementary cementitious material

15. Biomass ash as granular skeleton in cement-based materials

16. Biomass ash for the manufacture of lightweight concrete and mortars

17. Biomass bottom ash in mortars and concrete manufactured with activated cements

18. Improvement of rural roads by using palm oil fly ash as a cementitious material

Product details

  • Edition: 1
  • Latest edition
  • Published: October 15, 2026
  • Language: English

About the editors

FA

Francisco Agrela

Francisco Agrela is a Full Professor of Civil and Agricultural Engineering at the University of Cordoba, Spain, where he also obtained his PhD in 2003. He is a prolific author of research papers, book chapters, and conferences proceedings. In the last ten years, he has participated as Principal Investigator in more than 40 R+D+i projects related to real-scale applications of waste management and recycled materials. He collaborates with several Elsevier journals as a reviewer, notably Construction and Building Materials, Waste Management, Materials and Design, Resources, Conservation and Recycling, etc., and he is also on the Editorial Board of Materials (MDPI).

Affiliations and expertise
Full Professor, Dept. of Rural Engineering (Construction Eng. Area), Universidad de Córdoba, Cordoba, Spain

CM

César Medina

César Medina is a Full Professor of Civil Engineering at the University of Extremadura, Spain. He received his Doctorate in 2011 from the University of León. He is also the recipient of several prizes, notably an Outstanding PhD Thesis in 2014, the University of Extremadura Award for Young Researcher Career Excellence in Technical Fields in 2018, and two Young Researcher Medals by the Royal Spanish Academy of Engineering in 2021. He is a prolific author (research papers, monographs, book chapters, journals’ special issues), has participated in highly reputed national and international congresses, is involved with Q1 and Q2 JCR journals as a referee, and has also co-edited Waste and By-Products in Cement-Based Materials (Elsevier).
Affiliations and expertise
Full Professor, Institute for Sustainable Regional Development (INTERRA), Department of Construction, School of Engineering, University of Extremadura, Cáceres, Spain

BG

Belén González-Fonteboa

Belén González-Fonteboa received an MSc in Civil Engineering (1996) and a PhD in Civil Engineering (2002) from the University of A Coruña, where she is now a Full Professor in the Area of Construction Engineering. Her research activity, sponsored by the university and privately funded projects, is related to the analysis and possible uses of different byproducts in the construction field and aimed at creating new eco-concretes and mortars by using innovative control systems and instrumentation. She is a prolific author and an editorial board member of a variety of journals, and also participates in various working groups of fib Commission 4 (COM4).

Affiliations and expertise
Full Professor, Centre for Building and Civil Engineering Technology, Department of Civil Engineering, Universidade da Coruña, A Coruña, Spain

JG

Julia Rosales García

Julia Rosales García is a postdoctoral researcher at the University of Cordoba. She received her PhD jointly from the University of Cordoba and the University of Seville in 2019, and her PhD thesis was given two research awards. She is collaborating with international and national research centers of high prestige, is contributing to research through papers and presentations at international congresses, and also collaborates with Q1 JCR journals as a reviewer. She has participated in more than 15 R+D+i projects to date, mainly related to the valorization and reuse of waste in construction materials.
Affiliations and expertise
Postdoc Researcher, Dept. of Rural Engineering (Construction Eng. Area), Universidad de Córdoba, Cordoba, Spain