Influence of Palm Fruit Fibres and Cow Dung on Locally Produced Earth Bricks in Ghana for Sustainable Construction

Abstract

The study examined the effects of utilising agricultural waste, specifically Palm Fruit Fibres (PFF) and Cow Dung (CD), for making compressed earth bricks for sustainable construction applications. Different levels of Cow Dung (2% to 10%) and Palm Fruit Fibre (0.% to 0.5%) were used to stabilise the earth bricks. After a 28-day curing period, the mechanical and durability properties of the earth bricks were analysed. The compressive strength and split tensile strength of the earth bricks increased as the replacement percentages of the CD and PFF content increased in the matrix. Utilising CD and PFF into earth bricks resulted in approximately a 24.05% and (1.59% to 23.02%) increase in both compressive and split tensile strength of the earth bricks respectively. There was a 65% corresponding decrease in the abrasion resistance of the control and a 5% abrasion decrease in the abrasion resistance of the stabilised specimen, respectively. The study indicates that CD and PFF improve the mechanical and abrasion properties of the earth bricks. The optimal composition was recorded for the mixture with 10% CD and 0.5% PFF content, yielding the best performance. The performance improvement is likely due to the additional properties of the CD and reinforcement effects of the PFF, which enhance the matrix's structural integrity. These findings suggested that CD and PFF can offer a sustainable alternative to construction materials.