Date Palm Surface Fibers for Green Thermal Insulation

Lightweight Natural Fiber Insulation Boards Produced with Kapok Fiber (Ceiba Pentandra) and Polylactic Acid or Bicomponent Fiber as a Binder

Traditionally, kapok fiber is employed as filling for soft pillows, bedding, and diverse elements. Due to its buoyancy and proportion between cell wall and lumen, it is also applied as buoyant material in life vests and insulation materials. This study examine slightweight insulation panels produced from kapok fibers. Lightweight insulation boards are produced by hot-air using kapok fibers (95%) bonded with polylactic acid or bicomponent fiber (5%), achieving very low densities of 10,15, and 20 kg.m-3. The technological attributes like density, porosity, water absorption, wettability, compression, and thermal conductivity, are evaluated against commercial glass wool. In terms of water absorption rates, there is a direct correlation with density. All the variables reach short-term water absorption values less than 1 kg.m-2, which are comparable to commercial standards. This can be attributed to the lower density, higher porosity of the samples, and the inherent hydrophobic wax layer in the cell wall surface of kapok fibers. This trend is also evident in wettability tests, where produced boards demonstrated water-repellency when exposed to water. Regarding the mechanical property of compression, neither the binder nor the density significantly impacts compression strength. The thermal conductivity performance of kapok-based boards is comparable with commercially available ones.

New Eco-Friendly Thermal Insulation and Sound Absorption Composite Materials Derived from Waste Black Tea Bags and Date Palm Tree Surface Fibers

A tremendous amount of waste black tea bags (BTBs) and date palm surface fibers (DPSFs), at the end of their life cycle, end up in landfills, leading to increased pollution and an increase in the negative impact on the environment. Therefore, this study aims to utilize these normally wasted materials efficiently by developing new composite materials for thermal insulation and sound absorption. Five insulation composite boards were developed, two were bound (BTB or DPSF with polyvinyl Acetate resin (PVA)) and three were hybrids (BTB, DPSF, and resin). In addition, the loose raw waste materials (BTB and DPSF) were tested separately with no binder. Thermal conductivity and sound absorption coefficients were determined for all boards. Thermal stability analysis was reported for the components of the tea bag (string, label, and bag) and one of the composite hybrid boards. Mechanical properties of the boards such as flexural strain, flexural stress, and flexural elastic modulus were determined for the bound and hybrid composites. The results showed that the thermal conductivity coefficients for all the hybrid composite sample boards are less than 0.07 at the ambient temperature of 24 °C and they were enhanced as the BTB ratio was reduced in the hybrid composite boards. The noise reduction coefficient for bound and all hybrid composite samples is greater than 0.37. The composite samples are thermally stable up to 291 °C. Most composite samples have a high flexure modulus between 4.3 MPa and 10.5 MPa. The tea bag raw materials and the composite samples have a low moisture content below 2.25%. These output results seem promising and encouraging using such developed sample boards as eco-friendly thermal insulation and sound absorption and competing with the synthetic ones developed from petrochemicals in building insulation. Moreover, returning these waste materials to circulation and producing new eco-friendly composites can reduce the number of landfills, the level of environmental pollution, and the use of synthetic materials made from fossil resources.

New Composites Derived from the Natural Fiber Polymers of Discarded Date Palm Surface and Pineapple Leaf Fibers for Thermal Insulation and Sound Absorption

New composites made of natural fiber polymers such as wasted date palm surface fiber (DPSF) and pineapple leaf fibers (PALFs) are developed in an attempt to lower the environmental impact worldwide and, at the same time, produce eco-friendly insulation materials. Composite samples of different compositions are obtained using wood adhesive as a binder. Seven samples are prepared: two for the loose natural polymers of PALF and DPSF, two for the composites bound by single materials of PALF and DPSF using wood adhesive as a binder, and three composites of both materials and the binder with different compositions. Sound absorption coefficients (SACs) are obtained for bound and hybrid composite samples for a wide range of frequencies. Flexural moment tests are determined for these composites. A thermogravimetric analysis test (TGA) and the moisture content are obtained for the natural polymers and composites. The results show that the average range of thermal conductivity coefficient is 0.042-0.06 W/(m K), 0.052-0.075 W/(m K), and 0.054-0.07 W/(m K) for the loose fiber polymers, bound composites, and hybrid composites, respectively. The bound composites of DPSF have a very good sound absorption coefficient (>0.5) for almost all frequencies greater than 300 Hz, followed by the hybrid composite ones for frequencies greater than 1000 Hz (SAC > 0.5). The loose fiber polymers of PALF are thermally stable up to 218 °C. Most bound and hybrid composites have a good flexure modulus (6.47-64.16 MPa) and flexure stress (0.43-1.67 Mpa). The loose fiber polymers and bound and hybrid composites have a low moisture content below 4%. These characteristics of the newly developed sustainable and biodegradable fiber polymers and their composites are considered promising thermal insulation and sound absorption materials in replacing synthetic and petrochemical insulation materials in buildings and other engineering applications.

Developing an interior cladding fiberboard by utilizing sugarcane bagasse as a local agro-waste in Egypt

The conception of materials with fewer carbon dioxide emissions, using natural fibers, and recycling resources, is of increasing relevance to the world today to combat climatic change and pollution. This is a significant step toward reducing the environmental effect of building materials and addressing a multitude of sustainable development goals (SDGs) in a direct or indirect way. This research investigates using sugarcane bagasse (SCB) as a local green base material in Egypt for creating composite fiberboard that can be used in a multitude of architectural applications as an interior cladding board and was found to have thermal insulation qualities, achieving a dual aim of aesthetically pleasing interiors, in addition to a step towards thermal comfort, thus, enhancing human well-being. At the same time, this will cut down on energy use and carbon emissions. Finally, creating a partially green cladding particleboard will decrease the environmental impact two-fold, utilizing abundant agro-waste and hence, eliminating its disposal hazards, and simultaneously decreasing the environmental impact of construction material in its life cycle. Relevant mechanical and physical properties of the developed board were experimentally tested to investigate and characterize its material, hence, validate its potential operability.