Recycling of buffing dust tanneries waste to prepare structural thermal insulation panels

Abstract

Thermal insulation panels were prepared by mixing the buffing dust obtained from tanneries waste with the polystyrene. The ratio in weight percentage of buffing dust, polystyrene and blowing agent was 20:77:3 respectively in these panels. The samples were prepared in co-twine extruder at 210 °C. Different physico-chemical properties were investigated for these samples that are required to analyze the usability of a material for construction. The composite panels showed better thermal insulation characteristics than the simple polystyrene boards. This study demonstrated that prepared composite panels have good thermal conductivity (0.029 W m−1–K−1 at 27 °C), density (300 Kg m−3), compression strength (6.25 ton) and water absorption (7.5%) without degradation of mechanical properties. Thermogravimetric analysis depicted that composite panels were thermally stable from 200 °C to 412 °C. FTIR analysis showed that composite has carbonyl and free amino functional groups. The SEM study explained that voids were created in the composite and homogeneousity was decreased after the addition of buffing dust. The composite had 62% of carbon and 0.2% of chromium as determined by EDX analysis. The results suggested that the prepared composite panels can be used as thermal insulation boards in building sector which will help in the recycling of waste produced by leather industry and consequently a reduction in environmental pollution.