Fabrication and Utilization of High Loft Mats Based on Recycling Egyptian Pulled Wool and Flax Fibers Waste for Thermal Insulation Applications

Abstract

Heating and cooling activities of buildings consume a considerable amount of energy used in building envelopes and are responsible for almost 16 % of CO2 emissions in the air. This problem has been confronted with a recent worldwide trend by introducing eco-friendly buildings with net zero emissions. Currently used thermal insulators in building envelopes are usually made from synthetic polymers which are difficult to recycle or dispose of. This paper presents a novel bio-composite mats using Egyptian pulled wool fiber waste and flax fibers waste as an alternative to commercial polystyrene foam. High loft nonwoven mats with different blends of wool and flax are fabricated and characterized to utilize a composite structure with satisfactory thermal and physical properties. Thermal conductivity test, ignition test, and compression and recovery test are applied to the developed specimens. The results proved the competitiveness and suitability of the proposed composites to be used as building interior insulators when compared to polystyrene and other similar composite materials from literature.