UNWANTED shells from palm nuts could be used to make concrete for buildings
and roads, solving a major environmental problem for many developing
countries.
Malaysia is the world’s largest producer of palm oil—commonly used to
make margarine—and generates 9 million tonnes of waste each year. This can
be incinerated or dumped, but neither solution is particularly “green”. However,
since the shells from oil-palm fruits are so tough, Abdul Mannan and C.
Ganapathy at the Malaysian University in Sabah wondered whether they could be
used in concrete.
Conventional concrete is a mixture of cement, fly ash—pulverised burnt
fuel…
