*3.5. SWOT Analysis*

Concrete is considered an essential building material globally and widely used for various construction applications. However, concrete manufacturing accounts for substantial greenhouse gas emissions associated with cement production. Therefore, innovative approaches toward green concrete building materials reduce environmental and climate impact and promote sustainable societal development. Recently, biochar-based concrete gained increasing attention due to its sustainability and improved mechanical and durable properties compared to ordinary Portland concrete [2,43–45] However, to critically evaluate its potential for real-time application, it is necessary to summarise its merits, demerits, and limitations. Therefore, in this section, the SWOT analysis is carried out as a sustainable approach focusing on business strengths, weaknesses, profiting from opportunities, and potential identified threats of date palm derived biochar-based concrete to gain insight into and guide the relevance of the adoption of biochar in the construction industry. Table 2 summarises the main components of the SWOT analysis of date palm derived biochar-concrete construction, which is discussed below.

**Table 2.** SWOT analysis of biochar-based concrete.


#### 3.5.1. Strengths

The major strengths of using date palm fronds derived biochar-based concrete as building materials are listed in Table 2. Accordingly, date palm-derived biochar-concrete possessed desirable characteristics to develop a sustainable and green concrete material without compromising its mechanical and durable properties. The date palm-derived biochar exhibits a porous graphite carbon structure and high surface area, which facilitates the formation of denser concrete, ultimately improving the compressive and flexural strength to 29% and 16%, respectively. Previous studies revealed that biochar-based concrete demonstrated comparatively better compressive strength than ordinary concrete. It was reported that the compressive strength increased to around 31% using paper sludgederived biochar concrete after curing for 28 days [2]. In another study, adding biochar (0.08 wt% of cement) improved the compressive strength to 85 MPa and 100 MPa. Similarly, adding coarse-sized biochar (140 μm) particles to concrete may enhance the flexural strength of concrete. It was observed that 0.5 wt% of coarse biochar-based concrete, after curing for seven days, indicated a 51% higher flexural strength (3.34 MPa) than the reference concrete [46]. The date palm-derived biochar concrete demonstrated higher UPVs (7.79 km/s), indicating improved concrete durability, which is attributed to the reduction of large voids, and internal cracks in the concrete matrix. The biochar concrete exhibited a low

electrical resistivity value (*ρ*), which is 47% lesser than the control concrete, suggesting that the biochar-concrete matrix consists of a heterogeneous structure with a strongly connected pore network.

Additionally, studies also confirmed that the high thermal stability of biochar-based cement composites is another essential factor demonstrating its applicability compared to ordinary concrete. It was reported that biochar-based mortar specimens consisting of different proportions (5%, 10%, and 20% of cement weight) when subjected to different heating environments (200 ◦C, 450 ◦C, and 700 ◦C), showed minimal % loss in strength compared to ordinary mortar [47]. The study reported that adding 5 wt% biochar retained nearly 88%, 76%, and 38% of compressive strength when exposed to high temperatures (200 ◦C, 450 ◦C, and 700 ◦C). Biochar produced at high pyrolysis temperature exhibits high thermal stability, significantly improving concrete fire resistance [40]. The fire stability characteristic attracts applications in concrete structures used in mines and tunnels, reducing human risks and substantial damage. Moreover, the highly porous structure of biochar serves as a thermal insulator in a concrete matrix. Generally, the low interfacial adhesion of biochar with cement matrix leads to poor heat transfer, leading to decreased thermal conductivity. It was reported that biochar derived from the peach shell and apricot, when added to concrete, showed low thermal conductivity of 0.40 and 0.34 × <sup>10</sup>−<sup>6</sup> <sup>m</sup>2/s, respectively [48,49]. Therefore, using biochar in concrete as cement replacement improves the mechanical, durable, and thermal properties of concrete and reduces the CO2 emissions of the concrete industry. The study evaluated the impact of various governing factors, including raw materials, methods, synthesis, and transportation of biochar-concrete systems on the environment. It was estimated that approximately 0 to 20 wt% of biochar additions might expect to reduce 0.15–0.20 kg of cement in concrete. Therefore, using low cement amounts in biochar-concrete may be expected to reduce greenhouse gas emissions, ozone depletion, climate change, and hazardous biowaste management [50].
