Development and Characterization of Environmentally Friendly Insulation Materials for the Building Industry from Olive Pomace Waste

Abstract

This work is focused on the upgrading olive oil pomace to obtain high environmentally friendly insulation materials for the construction and building industry. Upgrading of these wastes has been carried out by using the wet-laid technology in combination with different thermoplastic binder fibers both from natural and synthetic origin. After the wetlaid process, the obtained veils or non-wovens were subjected to different processes: a hot-press moulding process or a continuous lamination process. The acoustic insulation properties were obtained by the Kundt’s tube while the thermal insulating properties were obtained through determining heat transmission resistance (R) and heat absorption parameter (?). These tests have revealed the excellent insulation properties of the olive pomace-derived materials, specifically, those based on high surface density non-wovens. The complementary process that follows wet-laid, i.e. hot-press moulding or continuous lamination process has a remarkable effect on insulation behaviour. In particular, the hot-pressed materials from olive pomace show better acoustic insulation while the continuously laminated materials offer the best thermal insulation properties.