3.5.3. Opportunities

Growing sustainability awareness in the construction industry has led to the search for sustainable materials that can replace OPC in cementitious materials. Due to its chemical properties and the fact that it is derived from agricultural waste, date palm frond biochar is an excellent alternative source of revenue for developing sustainable concrete. Saudi Arabia ranks among the world's leading date-producing countries. As a result of the high production of dates, the date palm industry produces a tremendous amount of agricultural waste. If these wastes are improperly disposed of in the environment, they could pose a fire and safety risk. In addition, valuable land spaces could be depleted, and the aesthetics of the environment might be impacted. The processing of these date palm fronds into biochar would provide an opportunity to efficiently manage these waste materials and use them as a raw material for making green concrete. Further, converting these wastes into valuable resources would entail a monetary value for date palm factories, opening up another source of revenue.

The application of date palm fronds biochar in building materials has been shown to improve the mechanical properties of building materials and enhance the durability of composites under extreme environmental conditions. The improved properties suggest that biochar-containing building materials perform equally or even better than those without [4,58–61]. Therefore, there is a massive opportunity for date palm fronds derived from biochar-based concrete to be used for various building applications for a better design life. Due to its wide range of applications and vast production, concrete has a substantial carbon footprint, contributing to 8% of the global carbon dioxide emissions [5]. Therefore, it is imperative to look for pathways for reducing emissions within the cement and concrete industry to reduce its environmental impact [4]. The use of date palm fronds-derived biochar in building materials has the potential to reduce carbon footprints and mitigate climate change [62]. The ability of biochar to sequester carbon in stable forms and capture CO2 directly from the atmosphere in building materials and the addition of CO2-saturated biochar have a vital role. Even with a lack of studies on this topic, building materials that contain date palm fronds derived from biochar have superb possibilities for reducing carbon footprints and mitigating climate change [63].
