Muscat – An Omani researcher and his international team have developed an innovative concrete mix using banana peel waste that could help make the construction industry more sustainable while improving building performance.

Almuataz Hamood Al Aghbari, a final-year PhD candidate in Civil Engineering at RMIT University in Australia, recently published the findings in the Journal of Building Engineering, one of the leading journals in the field of construction and civil engineering.

The study, conducted in collaboration with researchers Rajeev Roychand, Jaswanth Singh, Mohammed Saberian, Shannon Kilmartin, Jie Li and Chun Qing Li, investigates the use of banana peel biochar as a partial replacement for natural sand in concrete production.

Speaking to Muscat Daily, Al Aghbari said the research demonstrated a significant improvement in concrete performance, with compressive strength increasing by 24.7% after seven days compared with conventional concrete.

“The idea of concrete mix emerged from the growing environmental concerns surrounding organic waste disposal and the unsustainable extraction of natural sand,” Al Aghbari said. “Banana peels are generated in large quantities worldwide and are often discarded. We wanted to convert this waste into a valuable construction material while reducing pressure on natural resources.”

According to the researcher, higher early-age strength is particularly important in the construction sector as it enables faster formwork removal, accelerates project schedules and can reduce overall building costs.

The project builds on earlier research by the team involving coffee-waste biochar concrete and forms part of wider efforts to promote circular economy practices within the construction industry.

Al Aghbari noted that producing biochar with consistent quality posed a major challenge, requiring extensive laboratory testing to account for variations in moisture levels and chemical composition in organic waste materials.

While the study found that banana peel biochar concrete achieved performance levels comparable to conventional concrete after 28 days, additional long-term durability assessments are continuing.

With sustainability becoming a key priority for the global construction sector, Al Aghbari believes the technology has strong commercial potential.

“Recycling organic waste can simultaneously reduce landfill volumes and lower the demand for construction materials,” he said.

The research team is now investigating other agricultural and food waste streams that could be converted into biochar for future construction applications, further advancing sustainable engineering solutions for the built environment.