Wheat husk: A renewable resource for bio-based building materials.

• A lightweight concrete based on lime binder and wheat husk aggregate was designed. • Comparison was made with lime hemp concrete manufactured by the same route. • Comparable insulation properties and strength were found. • Wheat husk can be valorised without energy-consuming pre-treatment. • Lightweight concrete is a technically viable recycling solution for wheat husk. The huge annual production of wheat husk in Europe (10 million tons) creates management problems. Valorization options are thus sought. Here, insulting lime concrete was designed using native wheat husk as lightweight aggregate. Physical-chemical and technological properties of both particles and concretes were determined. Comparisons with hemp concrete manufactured with the same process were made. Similar thermal conductivities for the two types of concretes were obtained (ca. 0.09 W/(m·K)), whereas slightly lower compressive strength was found for wheat husk concrete due to weaker particle-binder interface. Nevertheless, results highlight the high potential of raw wheat husk for development of bio-based materials with interesting performances. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]