Abstract
There is considerable interest recently in by-products for application in green buildings. These materials are widely used as building envelope insulators or blocks. In this study, an experimental study was conducted to test stranded driftwood residues as raw material for possible thermo-acoustic insulation panel and environmentally sustainable brick. The thermal and acoustic characteristics of such a natural by-product were examined. Part of samples were mineralized by means of cement-based additive to reinforce the material and enhance its durability as well as fire resistance. Several mixtures with different sizes of ground wood chips and different quantities of cement were investigated. The thermo-acoustic in-lab characterization was aimed at investigating the thermal conductivity, thermal diffusivity, volumetric specific heat, and acoustic transmission loss. All samples were tested before and after mineralization. Results from this study indicate that it is possible to use stranded driftwood residues as building materials with competitive thermo-acoustic properties. In fact, the thermal conductivity was shown to be always around 0.07 W/mK in the unbound samples, and around double that value for the mineralized samples, which present a much higher volumetric specific heat (1.6 MJ/m3K) and transmission loss capability. The lignin powder showed a sort of intermediate behavior between the unbound and the mineralized samples.
Highlights
In order to achieve this objective, a broad experimental analysis involving thermal conductivity, thermal diffusivity, volumetric specific heat capacity as well as absorption coefficient and transmission loss was conducted for both unbound and mineralized samples
The unbound materials with different biomass chip sizes were analyzed to evaluate their thermal behavior since they are considered for use as fillers for envelope gaps or internal gypsumbased partition cavities, the mineralized samples were tested
From a thermal point of view, the results demonstrated that the mineralization procedure causes a general decrease of thermal conductivity and an increase of volumetric specific heat capacity with respect to the unbound materials
Summary
Today, in both developing and developed countries, the building sector is responsible for a remarkable part of energy consumption and greenhouse gas emissions [1,2]. In both developing and developed countries, the building sector is responsible for a remarkable part of energy consumption and greenhouse gas emissions [1,2] This fact illustrates the importance of applying energy-saving strategies in buildings’ life cycle, from their construction to their disposal, in order to operate more efficiently [3,4,5,6,7]. The increasing use of biomass in the European countries can contribute towards the achievement of the Europe 2020 target of 20% final energy consumption from renewable sources [11].
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