Biobased mortars in the Mediterranean context: The contribution of the CUBÂTI project within cross-border cooperation

The Mediterranean context is a transition zone between the temperate and tropical belts, developing in some regions between 20° and 40° North and South latitude. Typical flora of the Mediterranean bush includes holm oak, cork oak, heather, myrtle, rosemary, laurel, oleander, orange, prickly pear, caper, and pistachio. The research carried out as part of the cross-border cooperation project CUBÂTI “Culture du bâti de qualité: recherche, innovation et entreprise pour la durabilité,” funded by the Italy-Tunisie Programme 2014-2020, identified some of these plant species, linked to production waste from the agro-food sector of Sicily and Tunisia, to experiment with new additives to be used as reinforcement in plaster mortars. Furthermore, with the objective of improving circular processes and reducing the use of natural resources, we preferred to use local binders that are not resource-intensive, such as gypsum and clay. The activities were conducted through intense collaboration between research institutes and manufacturing companies to intensify technological transfer and raise awareness towards the use of more environmentally sustainable materials. The results obtained from the experimentation, which included durability tests of the developed materials, demonstrated that the controlled addition of plant fibres could be a sustainable way to improve some performances of plaster mortars.