Recycling of Nonwoven Polyethylene Terephthalate Textile into Thermal and Acoustic Insulation for More Sustainable Buildings.

David Antolinc,Kristina Eleršič Filipič

doi:10.3390/polym13183090

Abstract

The construction and building sector is responsible for a large share of energy and material used during the life cycle of a building. It is therefore crucial to apply a circular economy model within the process wherever possible to minimize the impact on the environment. In this paper, the possibility of producing thermal and acoustic boards from industrial nonwoven waste textile is studied and presented. The nonwoven polyester textile obtained directly from the production line in the form of strips and bales was first shredded into smaller fractions and then in the form of pile compressed with a hot press to form compact thermal insulation boards. The first set of specimens was prepared only from waste polyester nonwoven textile, whereas the second set was treated with sodium silicate in order to check the material’s reaction to fire performance. The experimental work was conducted to define the acoustic properties, reaction to fire behavior and thermal conductivity of the produced specimens. The obtained results show that the thermal conductivity coefficient of specimens without added water glass dissolution is near to the values of conventional materials used as thermal insulation in buildings. The reaction to fire testing proved that the addition of water glass actually propagates the progressive flame over the entire product. It can be concluded that the presented thermal insulation can be used as an adequate and sustainable solution for building construction purposes.

Highlights

One of the main challenges and problems of modern society is the ever growing volume of waste generated at all levels and domains of human activity
In view of the urgent need to find the solution for high volumes of textile waste, the main goal of the present study was to demonstrate the possibility of using industrial waste nonwoven textile made of pure polyethylene terephthalate (PET) fibers as a secondary raw material for the production of thermal insulation boards suitable for applications in buildings
The present study shows the great possibility of recycling industrial waste nonwoven polyester textile

Summary

Introduction

One of the main challenges and problems of modern society is the ever growing volume of waste generated at all levels and domains of human activity. The increased awareness about environmental problems addressed over the past decades has unveiled the need for new sustainable solutions to provide opportunities for the generation to meet their needs in order to achieve their economic, social and environmental objectives These new sustainable solutions can be achieved by implementing eco-innovations, so-called green innovations or environmental innovations, at the level of companies and countries with considerable environmental impacts [1]. It is important to have a clear and complete policy and strategy to tackle environmental problems, such as the European Green Deal, which has been developed and published in more documents by the European Commission [2,4,5,6] in recent years This is a basis for mobilizing industry for a clean and circular economy that supports the eco-innovation with the primary focus on the sectors that use most resources and have a high potential for establishing circular economy [2]. The installation of sufficient thermal insulation on the building envelope and upgrade to the use of renewable energy sources are the main measures to achieve adequate energy efficiency according to the current standards and to reach the goal of climate neutrality by 2050 [2]

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