Techno-Economic and Life Cycle Assessment for the Production of Green Composites

Botanically, green composites belong to an economically important seed plant family that includes maize, wheat, rice, and sorghum known as Saccharum offi cinarum. There are so many natural fibers available in the environment such as rice husk, hemp fibers, flax fibers, bamboo fibers, coconut fiber, coconut coir, grawia optiva and many others also. Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) is a process to estimate the environmental feature and potential impacts related to a product, by organizing a directory of pertinent inputs and outputs of a product system, assessing the potential environmental impacts related with the said inputs and outputs, explaining the results of the inventory analysis and impact evaluation phases in connection to the objectives of the study. Particularly Bagasse, an agricultural residue not only becomes a problem from the environmental point of view, but also affects the profitability of the sugarcane industries. This chapter discusses the properties, processing methods and various other aspects including economic and environmental aspects related to green composites.

Aged embankment imaging and assessment using surface waves

Rapid, non-intrusive surface wave surveys provide depth profiles from which ground models can be generated for use in earthwork condition assessment. Stiffness throughout earthworks controls the behaviour under static and dynamic loads, and characterising heterogeneity is of interest in relation to the stability of engineered backfill and life-cycle deterioration in aged utility and transportation infrastructure. Continuous surface wave methods were used to identify interfaces between fine- and coarse-grained fill in an end-tipped embankment along the Great Central Railway in Nottinghamshire, UK. Multichannel analysis of surface wave (MASW) methods were used to characterise subsurface voiding in a canal embankment along the Knottingley and Goole canal near Eggborough, Yorkshire. MASW methods are currently being used to study extreme weather impacts on the stability of a highplasticity clay embankment along the Gloucestershire–Warwickshire railway near Laverton. Optimal results were obtained using equipment capable of generating and detecting over wide frequency ranges.

Overview on bio-based building material made with plant aggregate

Global warming, energy savings, and life cycle analysis issues are factors that have contributed to the rapid expansion of plant-based materials for buildings, which can be qualified as environmental-friendly, sustainable and efficient multifunctional materials. This review presents an overview on the several possibilities developed worldwide about the use of plant aggregate to design bio-based building materials. The use of crushed vegetal aggregates such as hemp (shiv), flax, coconut shells and other plants associated to mineral binder represents the most popular solution adopted in the beginning of this revolution in building materials. Vegetal aggregates are generally highly porous with a low apparent density and a complex architecture marked by a multi-scale porosity. These geometrical characteristics result in a high capacity to absorb sounds and have hygro-thermal transfer ability. This is one of the essential characteristics which differ of vegetal concrete compared to the tradition mineral-based concretes. In addition, the high flexibility of the aggregates leads to a non-fragile elasto-plastic behavior and a high deformability under stress, lack of fracturing and marked ductility with absorbance of the strains ever after having reached the maximum mechanical strength. Due to the sensitivity to moisture, the assessment of the durability of vegetal concrete constitutes one of the next scientific challenging of bio-based building materials.