Incorporation of Wooden Furniture Wastes in Fired Clay Bricks for Improved Thermal Insulation: A Feasability Study

Abstract

The main objective of this study is to improve thermal insulation of fired clay bricks through addition of wooden furniture waste. The effect of the nature and the amount (5 or 10 wt%) of wooden furniture waste on the properties of the final porous fired brick prepared by extrusion was assessed though measurements of mass loss, drying and sintering shrinkage, porosity, bulk density and thermal conductivity. Results showed that incorporation of wooden furniture waste into the clay mixture yielded increase of porosity after firing and hence decrease of thermal conductivity. For example, addition of 10 wt% wood waste yielded a pore volume fraction of 47% with a conductivity of 0.42 W m−1 K−1. Moreover, due to orientation of the clay platelets, the anisotropy in thermal conductivity was significant, ranging from a ratio of 1.1–1.5.