Keywords

1 Introduction

The vulnerability in the condition of earth has become the reason behind the utilization of environment friendly as well as sustainable materials and techniques in various areas like construction [1], energy production [2], packing applications [3]. to diminish the aftermath of using traditional raw materials [4]. Owing to the accelerated consumption of natural resources and for the balanced management of remaining reserves and renewable raw materials, the recovery and utilization of waste generated during production and consumption processes are the absolute necessity of the moment. This coexists with the demand for environmental protection, which implies the eradication of threats and reduction of losses that might occur due to the possible accumulation and elimination of waste [5]. The management of natural resources is the biggest challenge to reduce anthropogenic environmental pressure in the next few decades [6]. A number of natural sustainable resources are exploited as substitute elements for cement and aggregates in the construction field to make eco-friendly material [7]. Out of which, wood has emerged as a prominent, sustainable, environmental friendly substitute material in the construction business for the preparation of building materials [8]. It is a natural and renewable resource that can be feasibly utilized in the manufacturing of wood products. Recycled wood waste (WW) products are widely exploited as replacement of pristine raw materials. Production of these materials are beneficial in reduction of expenditure for transportation and logging process and also the incineration and landfilling costs are minimized for the disposure of WW. Further, the recycling and reusing of WW are favourable in reducing utilization of water and energy in manufacturing process and consequently there is decrease in environmental depletion. The recycling process is necessary to manage current drastic condition of earth due to rapid consumption of fossil fuel, and the continuous climate change [9]. Various forms of WW i.e., sawdust, wood fibre, wood shaving, wood chip, wood flitches, bark, and wood offcuts are depicted in Fig. 1.

Fig. 1
A tree diagram with types of wood waste indicated on its branches is as follows. Wood flitches, wood chips, wood shaving, sawdust, wood fiber, wood offcuts, and barks.

Different types of wood waste

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Wood is the oldest known construction material and has been used to establish thousands of building structures. Some of the wood-based fabricated products have higher strength-to-weight ratio than steel-based products. The entire substitution of wood in place of conventional building material increases the risk of catching fire and because of this it has been replaced by various non-flammable materials. Due to the above reasons, partial replacement of building material with wood is recommended. Environmentalists and researchers are keen to discover environment friendly substitute products and implement them practically in construction business [10]. There are a variety of materials that can be produced from the natural resource but we have to consider the expense and viability of using these materials in the engineering of sustainable products. Not only wood but also the WW is the main attraction for researchers to fabricate more eco-friendly building materials. WWs are commonly generated from the process of harvesting of wood, processing, and during the production of material from wood and after the use of wood-based products, i.e. post-consumer waste. The post-consumer WW is originated from wood-based products whose life span has been completed and whose economic and technical value determined them as waste materials. These waste materials should be exploited to conserve the raw materials which come under the list of sustainable development programme derived directly from forests. The aforementioned idea is essential for waste management and the management should be done in proper and appropriate way. Reuse of WW should be implemented in the period of economic boom, especially when there is deficiency in raw wood material. Wood recovered from various used and worn-out wood product has appeared as prominent alternative materials for raw forest resources to be utilized in different applications. Post-consumer WW generated in Europe has been used in place of raw wood material of around 22% which includes more than 9% and 12% for industrial and energy purposes, respectively. The construction sector along with industry and demolition sites are largest part of wood market, where the wood and wood-based products are used and greater amount of post-consumer waste is generated. The amount and generation pathways of WW are related to the geographical area and the type of construction procedure followed in that particular area. The percentage of WW in countries like Spain and Norway is generally more than 10% of total waste produced. Waste management strategies should be carried out to eliminate disposal problem and the most concerning one is to use in the recycling process. Although WW is the most common waste generated from industry and demolition sites, reuse and recycling of these waste products can also be successfully accomplished in construction field as secondary raw material. The quality of WW products need to hold balance with the stability and life expectancy along with the safety measures. For such concern, systematic selection of recycling process of WW used for the fabrication of different materials should be done [5, 11]. WW generally exists in different forms and depending upon the applications, it is used as an alternative material in place of raw material to enhance its characteristics and outcomes and most importantly to reduce the negative impact on environment through sustainable development. Multivarious applications of WW in energy production and building materials are represented in Fig. 2.

Fig. 2
An infographic diagram with hexagonal blocks indicates the building materials as follows. Ceiling wall and wall, Mansory blocks, sound insulators, particle board, and thermal insulators. The applications of wood waste are heat energy, electrical power, biomass energy, and biofuel production.

Applications of wood waste in energy production and building materials

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2 Wood Waste as Sustainable Building Material

United Nations (UN) has agreed on Sustainable Development Goals with 17 goals and 169 target matters related to sustainability. Sustainability aims at the three dimensional concept, i.e. environmental, economic, and social welfare of the country to achieve the goals set by UN. Sustainable development has the objective to meet the standard of human development goals while maintaining the quality of natural resources. Based on the available resources, situation, and its impact on the surrounding, the extent to which Sustainable Development Goals can be achieved are determined by the researchers [12]. As a consequence of urbanization and industrialization, cities are developing rapidly and due to this construction design, implementation, and maintenance of building requires huge amount of energy and natural resources. The materials used for the construction purpose are called building materials. Over the time period, there is substantial change in selection of building materials. For instance, building materials such as wood used in ancient times are biodegradable but do not have enough strength to hold the building while in modern days building materials such as insulator, brick, and plastic are non-renewable and have adverse impacts on the environment. The dependency over synthetic products made from metal and non-metal raw materials greatly enhances the consumption of energy and carbon dioxide emission which are also responsible for climate change and global warming. Due to the above reasons, selection of materials to construct sustainable buildings is one of the important discussions among environmental scientists. Eco-friendly and green building materials have already established their dominance over conventional materials since these materials provide recommended indoor environment and are most importantly able to meet the sustainable development goals adopted by the UN [13]. Sustainable building materials should maintain positive interrelationship with surrounding ecosystem. Sustainable building encourages using of less amount of energy and production of less amount of pollutants. It all starts with planning, designing, and choice of materials to construct the building. Sustainability in case of building construction starts with ground levels such as choice of raw material, method to prepare construction material, and energy use in these process. All the above methods must satisfy the goals of sustainability to meet sustainable development. For example, bricks use in the construction require more energy to dry and to give maximum strength. Energy consumption is high during this process so the firing of bricks can be done by using agricultural waste or solar energy through mirror and reflecting construction instead of conventional energy source [14]. Sustainable development needs sustainable materials. WW is a notable sustainable material and can largely be used as a sustainable material to produce different building materials. The improper disposal of WW into the surroundings affects both economic growth and the environment. The burning of WW releases vast amount of greenhouse gases which leads to increase in global warming. Reuse or recycling of WW to develop new products decreases the rate of deforestation. The sustainability of environment and economy is dependent upon the country’s mindset. There are some countries like Nigeria and Brazil that have maintained the quality product as well as the surroundings by using WW in different applications [15, 16]. Some sustainable and unsustainable building materials recently being used are compiled in Fig. 3.

Fig. 3
An illustration of the building materials. 1. Sustainable building materials include ferrock, timbercrete, recycled plastic, wood waste, straw bales, hempcrete, and bamboo. 2. Unsustainable building materials include reinforced concrete, lead, asbestos, steel, and glass.

Sustainable and unsustainable building materials

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3 Applications of Wood Waste in Building Materials

WW is used in the fabrication of a variety of building materials such as concrete, thermal insulator, and sound insulator. In this chapter, required physical, mechanical, and thermal properties such as heat of hydration, flowability, compressive strength, flexural strength, thermal conductivity, and sound pressure level are analysed systematically in accordance with their respective applications. The sustainability and viability of these materials for the successful use as building material have also been discussed in the following section.

3.1 Concrete

Demand of cement in construction purposes is increasing due to rapid urbanization and so is the production of cement. It causes extreme emission of carbon dioxide which ultimately put its negative influence on the environment [17]. It is also reported that the production of 600 kg of cement bags is responsible for the emission of 400 kg of carbon dioxide [18]. Therefore, to development and adoption of new technologies and approaches are the need of the hour to control the negative effects of cement on environment. Varieties of waste and byproducts have already been taken into account to utilize as supplementary cementitious material to lessen the effect [19]. Research has already been effectively carried out to produce green construction material by substituting cement with WW ash [20]. Disposal and environmental impact can be reduced with the use of WW ash as a replacement agent in concrete. The replacement helps in reduction in utilization of cement, production cost of cement, and this also leads to lowering the release of greenhouse gases to the surroundings. Since WW ash is a fine material as compared to cement, it helps to fill the voids present within the matrix of hardened concrete and makes the penetration of NaCl difficult. Due to this, concrete made from WW ash as partial replacement of cement is suitable for building material in coastal region to protect the strctures from salty climatic conditions [21]. Other factors are also considered during the partial substitution of cement. Pozzolanic characteristic is the major feature of a material that is used as the replacement of cement. WW ash exhibits pozzolanic characteristics same as the cementitious materials. For the preparation of concrete, cement is the key component but its utilization can be reduced by adding WW ash to prepare sustainable concrete and mortar without affecting the quality of the resultant product. Addition of WW ash in concrete preparation process has helped in enhancing the microstructure property and strength. However, the replacement of cement and addition of WW ash has certain limitations, as it subsides the strength of concrete. The recommended amount for the addition of WW ash is not more than 20%. According to Ramosh et al., the efficacious use of WW ash in high quality cement can be feasible and up to 10% of cement can be saved [22].

Wood wool is the thin fine strand having 0.5–3 mm thickness. It can be prepared from WW instead wood and can be utilized in making of advanced wood cement composite. Regular binders such as Portland and white cement are mixed with wood wool to fabricate composite. WW must be treated before using it in manufacturing of composite material but positive impact of treated WW is still obscure. WW derives from pallets is a best substitution for spruce to fabricate wood wool cement board. Berger et al. [23] have done comparative studies of composites’ characteristics by scrutinized outcomes of chemical and mechanical properties. The wood wool used for the fabrication of composite is prepared from natural spruce wood and WW which is obtained from construction and demolition sites. Since WW is very much compatible with white cement, they have replaced the traditional spruce wood in the manufacturing of wood-based cement boards. Influence of WW on cement, environment assessment of WW and analysis of thermal properties of board are carried out to determine the ability of WW to be use in  preparation of building materials. It is seen that the influence of WW on cement is minimal and this effect is measured by isothermal calorimetric analyser. The assessment of environmental impact of WW also shows that there is no significant effect of contaminates and is safe to use in preparation of composites. The thermal conductivity is found to be below acceptable value, i.e. 0.08 W m1 K−1. Like other constitutes, WW also has its replacement limit up to 50% to show successful outcome. Above this limit, the heterogeneity of the board increases which is not a good characteristic of a good reinforcement. The performance of material also drastically decreases due to the lowering of flexural strength and density above this limit [23]. Different materials those are fabricated to modify compositions of concrete with the help of WW along with characterization techniques and their applicability in different applications are listed in Table 1.

Table 1 Different materials fabricated in modifying different compositions of concretes with wood wastes and their characterization techniques and applications
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Recently, cementitious materials reinforced with cellulosic fibre are vastly exploited for construction of residence and for the manufacturing of exterior designing products namely siding and roofing materials. Asbestos fibres were the desirable fibre due to high strength-to-weight ratio, to engineer construction composites which are used for the above-mentioned applications. However, the carcinogenic nature of asbestos forced the researcher to find the alternatives and in this regard, the researchers have found cellulosic fibres as a viable alternative [34]. Autoclaved aerated concrete (ACC) has been largely utilized to prepare masonry because it is considered as an insulation material with outstanding thermal characteristic and construction performance [35]. It is prepared by the combination of lime, cement, gypsum, quartz powder, water and small amount of aluminium powder [36]. Addition of fibres to prepare AAC reduces cracks and breakages generated in AAC and helps in enhancement of tensile strength and flexural strength [37]. Owing to the low material and energy consumption value, AAC can be used an eco-friendly material. In addition to this, its negative influence on environment is reduced by adding WW fibre instead of other fibres. Rongsheng et al. have produced wood fibre reinforced AAC and carried out the comparative study of performance of wood fibre reinforced AAC with traditional ACC and polyester fibre reinforced AAC. The physical and mechanical properties influenced by the content of fibre are investigated by SEM analysis. Mostly, the addition of wood fibre to fabricate AAC shows better outcomes than that of polyester fibre. With the increase in the incorporation of wood fibre, thermal conductivity and volume density increase while the opposite result is found for fluidity, swollen height, and porosity. Among other mechanical properties, flexural strength is improved by the incorporation of wood fibre. The microstructure of developed material was studied by SEM analysis and results showed the physical interaction of wood fibre with the AAC matrix. From, the experimental data it is clear that wood fibre generated from WW can be used in AAC products [38].

Cement is not the only component of concrete that can be replaced by WW, it can also be utilized as sand replacement to prepare concrete masonry blocks. However, due to the differences in chemical and physical properties of sand and WW, the addition of WW in place of sand leads to have some impacts on characteristics like heat of hydration, flowability, and compressive and flexural strength of concrete masonry blocks. So the amount of WW addition in the preparation of concrete plays a vital role in determining the performance of material. Antoun et al. have created the concrete masonry by taking different replacement ratio of olive WW (OWW), i.e. 25, 50, and 100%. From the study, it is clear that the requirements set by ASTM for non-load bearing concrete masonry blocks is fulfilled by local OWW. The masonry blocks prepared from OWW appear to have effective strength after 7 days of preparation. Flowability of the prepared blocks was tested immediately after the mixing and heat of hydration was analysed after 48 h of casting while the flexural and compressive strength were evaluated within the intervals of 3, 7, 14, 18, and 40 days. The materials with 25 and 50% replacement of sand by OWW showed better results with higher flexural strength and lower heat of hydration value than the reference material. Decrease in heat of hydration and the delay in setting time of block are due to the presence of zinc and sucrose in OWW. The compressive strength remain unchanged as an acceptable value with respect to the reference value. But the addition of super plasticizers and accelerators to mixture showed enhancement in the performance of compressive and flexural strength. Owing to the above properties of WW-based material, it can be used in non-structural applications namely sidewalks, borders, ditches, filler blocks, and masonry block [39].

Crushed stones and mineral admixtures have shown increase in consumption by the concrete industries, hence consequently the scarcity in supply chain leads to illegal mining to fulfill the demand. For the purpose of sustainable construction, WW has largely been used as recycling waste due to ease of availability and cost efficiency. Lumber and timber industries are producing large number of products made from WW. These WWs are generated in every step starting from cutting trees to sawdust formation. The houses for poor people in West Indies are the combination of WW and clay. Logs obtained from trees are used for the construction of window, door, and trusses and also for the furnishing of the house [40]. In 1993, in one of the earthquake damaged zone of India, the fast-tract houses were made from cement particle board based on wood particle. Also the viability of this material for construction purpose has been examined. Therefore, the partial replacement of coarse aggregate is possible through the use of wood particles in the preparation of concrete. The utilization of unconventional material to produce concrete and to decrease the load on natural resources in construction business is encouraged by the researchers. Thandavamoorthy [41] has developed a concrete reinforced with WW collected from carpentry work to replace coarse aggregates and investigated the mechanical and durability properties to check the feasibility of using such concrete in building material. The compressive strength of prepared material with 15% replacement shows higher value, i.e. 32.36 MPa than general concrete. Acid, alkaline and fire resistance test are also carried out for the evaluation of durability of WW based concrete. The WW concrete has low resistance to acid and alkali as compared to general concrete. However, the 15% WW contained concrete has higher resistance value than other compositional replacement. Along with the structural application of this WW concrete, it also has the capability to use as sound insulation panels in hospitals and sound barriers on highways.

3.2 Insulating Building Material

Twentieth century is the starting point of employment of insulating material as one of the crucial building material. Commonly used components for the fabrication of insulators are generally synthetic materials such as polyisocyanurate, expanded polystyrene, and extruded polystyrene. Thermal and sound resistance capacities of synthetic materials are very high but its impact on environment and human health is not acceptable. Owing to the above facts, the use of natural materials is mandatory for the creation of healthy and sustainable environment. Recently, numerous investigations have been carried out for the replacement of synthetic materials by the eco-friendly material to generate insulator [42, 43]. There are varieties of thermal and soundproof materials that have been fabricated with the help of WW, out of which some of them are discussed in this chapter.

3.3 Thermal Insulator

Consumption of operational energy can be reduced by the use of insulating material to envelop the building, since these materials require less energy in process of cooling and heating. At present, thermal insulators are largely made up of synthetic materials. The effective outcomes of these thermal insulators have high resistance to heat transfer but these are less eco-friendly material. Development of thermal insulators by utilizing renewable natural resources lowers the production value and helps in designing of sustainable environment. The mechanical and thermal property of natural resources-based thermal insulator has shown better results as compared to conventional thermal insulator [43]. To analyse thermal properties, the evaluation of thermal conductivity is necessary. Thermal conductivity is the amount of heat that passes in a body in presence of thermal gradient. For specific kind of material the interval variation of conductivity is very high and depends on various factors like temperature and water content. Evaluation of these properties is useful while computing thermal resistance of building materials [44]. It is also reported that the international standard for the material to be used as thermal insulator material, thermal conductivity coefficient value must be less than 0.1 W/mK [45].

To decrease the energy consumption and to increase the efficiency of thermal insulator, WW products are utilized in preparation of thermal insulator. Recently, researchers are interested in fabricating composite material for thermal insulator. One of the green composite can be formed by the combination of WW and polymer. The most two important characteristics that are required to use thermal insulating material for construction purpose are thermal stability and compressive strength. Other characteristics such as low thermal conductivity value, and low water absorption capacity and high mechanical strength are needed. For this purpose, Abu-Jdayil et al. [46] have targeted to engineer a green polymeric composite material for construction purpose with thermal stability and insulating property. The reinforcing material is date palm wood powder (DPWP) which is added into the matrix of polylactic acid. The composite is made by taking various weight percentages, i.e. from 0 to 50% of DPWP. The synthesized composite material showed that the addition of WW powder decrease the thermal conductivity up to 0.0692. Polylactic acid-DPWP composite has the potential to be used as a building material owing to its high compression strength and lower thermal conductivity, thermal diffusivity and water absorption value. The 50-DPWP composite has the thermal conductivity and compressive strength of 0.0757 W/(mK) and 65.5 MPa, respectively while the water absorption is about 1.2% in a duration of 24 h. Along with thermal property, evaluation of physical and mechanical properties has been carried out to check the viability of this green composite and to use as thermal insulator for domestic and industrial applications as an alternative traditional insulator [46]. Agoua et al. [44] have targeted to prepare a composite from different sizes of sawdust and glue derived from polystyrene. Both the materials are reused as part of waste management to produce building material which is considered an environmental and economic alternative. The formulation of this composite is done to achieve physical and mechanical properties to use in desirable applications. They have evaluated thermal conductivity of various prepared samples with different granulation in variety of glue content and concluded that it can be used as insulation material to imitate ceiling and dividing walls [44]. Important advantages of WW to be implemented in thermal insulation for building materials are shown in Fig. 4 for better understanding.

Fig. 4
A flow diagram of the advantages of wood waste for a thermal insulator. If the wood waste is low, involved in the properties of thermal conductivity and water absorption rate. If the advantage is high, it creates a force on the wood and results in compressive strength.

Advantages of wood waste to be implemented in thermal insulator applications

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Wood chip; a type of WW is generated from wood cutting. United States, Canada, China, Brazil, and Germany are some of the major countries to produce 61.9 million cubic metres of timber. Timber wood is mainly obtained from different timber production facilities and factories and are this wood is the main resources of wood chips. Hanifi et al. have engineered a thermal insulator by taking wood chips obtained from carpenters, olive seed, epoxy resin and polyvinyl chloride (PVC). From the obtained findings, it is seen that all these materials are suitable for the production of thermal insulator. Since olive seeds and wood chips contribute as fibres in the composite, the resultant flexure strength of synthesized olive oil seed, PVC, and wood chips doped material is 44% higher than reference sample. Since, the important phase of the composite is made from PVC and wood chip, increase in their content increases the compressive strength of the composite. Reference sample has 2.4 times lower compressive strength value as compared to the developed sample with 12 additives. Also it is seen that the sample with high water absorption capacity is of lower unit weight. Both the flexure and compressive strength value of developed composite is above the standards requirement. Thermal conductivity coefficient decrease with increase in addition of olive seed. So, the addition of olive seed should be maintained to get the required value of thermal conductivity [45]. Lakrafil et al. have taken two WWs i.e., wood shavings and sawdust obtained from carpenters and two leather wastes to produce insulating materials. Comparative studies have been done for the insulation ability of these waste materials with the component used as building material. The measurement of thermal conductivity shows that these materials have the capability to compete with conventional insulating materials [47].

3.4 Sound Insulator

In recent years, noise pollution due to burgeoning of modern industry, construction, advanced traffic system, and transportation have affected human health and environmental condition. To manage, prevent, and reduce noise damage several investigations have been done by the researchers [48]. The three distinct approaches to control the noise pollution are cessation of the noise generation sources, avoidance of sound from entering ears and alternation of noise propagation path. Effect of noise can be minimized by controlling the source, but sometimes it is difficult to control with the available technologies. Therefore, to overcome these difficulties, sound insulation or soundproof materials have been employed to eliminate and to obstruct sound waves during the way of its transmission. There are various cited reports that have used sound insulation techniques to diminish effects of noise and this process is the most realistic approach as it involves manufacturing of soundproof structures. However, selecting appropriate materials to create sound insulator is a necessity to enhance the ability to reduce noise. It is seen that homogenous single layer material with poor insulation performance are not able to achieve desired sound insulation effects. Conventional methods used to increase the thickness and density of materials are not very convenient and also the process are not economical. New materials with minimum thickness, better sound insulation performance, and lightweight structures are investigated by the scientists [49]. According to Mass Law of Acoustic, the effect of sound insulation properties of wood increase when wood is converted to wood-based particleboard. For the preparation of wood-based particle boards very often urea–formaldehyde (UF) resin is used as binder. UF helps in improvement of soundproof property by acting as filler to fill the lacunas of wood cells and interspaces between wood particles. WW tire rubber composite panel engineered by Zhao et al. possessed better sound insulation effect compared to commercial wood particle board and composite floorboard. Microstructure analysis showed that the continuous interface is present between rubber and wood due to UF and polymeric methylene diphenyl diisocyanate (PMDI). These characteristics of WW tire rubber composite panel help in providing enhanced sound insulation quality and mechanical property. For this particular composite, the sound insulation property increases with increase in content of rubber crumb and PMDI adhesive level [50]. Torkaman et al. have fabricated a building material, i.e. lightweight concrete blocks with partial replacement of Portland cement by wood fibre waste, rice husk ash, and limestone powder waste. All these waste materials are obtained in large amounts from forest and limestone industries and due to this the process of developing of material is cost effective with high commercial value. When one of these three materials is used in the preparation of composite, some unwanted characteristics arise which are not appropriate for a suitable and sustainable building material. The most advantageous performance of composite is obtained with the combination of all three waste materials with 25% replacement of Portland cement. Recycling of wood fibre waste, rice husk ash, and limestone powder waste not only helps in production of lighter concrete blocks with good physico-mechanical properties but also a viable solution to reduce environmental problems. It also provides economical designing of building materials such as ceiling panels, absorption materials, and sound barrier panels [51]. Use of WW in sound insulation is portrayed in Fig. 5.

Fig. 5
An illustration of the wood waste with better sound absorption is indicated.

Use of wood waste in sound insulation

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The recycling of timber waste to produce cement bonded particleboard is an appealing process. WW reinforced with cement provides structural durability and enhances the strength of wood particle board by reducing the vulnerability of WW caused by biological degradation and environmental weathering. Due to the granular skeleton, WW particleboards are light weight and may be used as thermal and sound insulating material. Conventional particleboard compromises indoor air quality due to the phenol formaldehyde resin whereas cement bonded particleboard is formaldehyde free and has no impact on human health and environment [52]. Eco-friendly thermal and sound insulating material can also be formed with the help of WW. The sustainable and advanced composite materials are developed by Fornés et al. based on either WW fibre or natural wood fibre reinforced phosphogypsum composite material for the comparative analysis. The reinforcing agent is added with a variation from 0 to 5 wt% in the matrix. They concluded that small addition of WW fibre constructively reinforced the matrix. Better mechanical outcomes of the developed material are seen with the addition of WW fibre than the natural wood fibre. Compressive strength with 0.5 wt% of WW fibre is found to be 25.1 MPa while the composite with 1 wt% of natural wood fibre provides compressive strength of about 21.9 MPa. Due to the decrease in density, the further addition of fibre reduces the compressive strength of the material. The optimal characteristic of the advanced environment friendly composite is obtained as the result of 3 wt% addition of WW fibre with 13.5 MPa, 0.39 W/mK, and 64.5 dBA of compressive strength, thermal conductivity, and sound pressure level value, respectively. The fabricated composite material is recommended to be used in wall bricks and blocks preparation [53].

4 Conclusion

In view of the raise in global warming and green house emission, numerous natural and sustainable materials have been incorporated into the construction business. Considering the sustainable development concept spread at the end of the twentieth century, new composite materials are introduced in modern countries. The utility, performance, and viability are the main concern to determine the successful employment of such materials. WW-based building material has shown its dominance in construction application due to the sustainability, viable mechanical and thermal properties, and low environmental effect on earth. Apart from WW, other eco-friendly materials, better processes, technology, and greener binder should be evaluated in future to produce more sustainable and viable building materials.