Mphahlele, IJKhoaele, Katleho KGbadeyan, O JChunilall, Viren2025-03-192025-03-1920241-0364-1461-2978-1-0364-1461-0http://hdl.handle.net/10204/14178Fossil fuel serves as the primary global source of energy. It is anticipated that fossil fuels will be depleted in the next half-century. Using biomassbased wood composite for building applications serves as a substitute for fossil fuels. Biomass-based wood composite has proved to display good properties for application in the building sector. This chapter illustrates the valorization of biomass-based materials, sawdust, and wood flour in various building applications. Sawdust-based polymer resin polystyrene for particle board production displayed excellent compressive and tensile strengths of 0.157 N/mm2 and 2.362 N/mm2 respectively. Furthermore, cement substituted with sawdust exhibited satisfactory results for producing bricks or blocks. The results displayed a compressive strength of 10.43 N/mm² following ASTM C67. Moreover, clay bricks production using sawdust content of 2.5 wt% fired at 1100°C depicted a high compressive strength of 18.2 MPa, following ASTM C62-13a, which required a compressive strength of 17.2 MPa -according to the American National Standard Institute (ANSI), composites panels produced using sawdust with plastic waste and polystyrene exhibited good mechanical properties which can be applied for flooring application. The results displayed a modulus of elasticity (MOE) from 694.88 MPa to 4604.89 MPa and a modulus of rupture (MOR) from 5.73 to 21.24 MPa. Wood flour (WF) also displayed potential use in furniture applications. The results showed that 30 wt% WF-filled r-PP content wood polymer composite (WPC) displayed 24.8 MPa tensile strength. Moreover, the flexural strength of 46.2 MPa was achieved due to using MAPP as a coupling agent. According to the ASTM D 6662, the lowest flexural modulus of 0.34 GPa and 6.9 MPa flexural strength is required for decking boards. The results displayed excellent flexural modulus ranging from 2.49 to 3.8 GPa and flexural strength from 23.05 to 35.82 MPa. This is further evidence that wood flour-based composite can be utilized in decking application.FulltextenBiomass-based compositeFlexural strengthFossil fuelsMAPPMechanical propertiesBook ChapterN/A