Sustainable Wood-Waste-Based Thermal Insulation Foam for Building Energy Efficiency

Siciliano, Amanda; Zhao, Xinpeng; Fedderwitz, Rebecca; Ramakrishnan, Kishore; Dai, Jiaqi; Gong, Amy; Zhu, J.; Kośny, Jan; Hu, Liangbing

doi:10.3390/buildings13040840

Sustainable Wood-Waste-Based Thermal Insulation Foam for Building Energy Efficiency

Journal Article · Thu Mar 23 00:00:00 EDT 2023 · Buildings

DOI:https://doi.org/10.3390/buildings13040840· OSTI ID:1963125

; ; Fedderwitz, Rebecca; ; Dai, Jiaqi; Gong, Amy; ; Kośny, Jan; Hu, Liangbing

Wood is one of the most abundant biomaterials on Earth, which has been used for centuries in construction applications including furniture, roofing, flooring, and cabinetry. However, wood chips—which are a low-quality and plentiful waste byproduct of lumber milling, woodworking, and shipping operations—have low economic value and complicated disposal methods. In this paper, we propose a strategy for wood chip reuse through the fabrication of bio-based building insulation foam. Through a high-temperature chemical treatment delignification process, we introduced additional small pores within the wood chips, effectively lowering their thermal conductivity, and used them in combination with a binding agent to produce a porous insulation foam. The porous insulation foam achieved a low thermal conductivity of 0.038 W/(m·K) and a high compressive strength of 1.1 MPa (70% strain). These characteristics demonstrate that wood waste can be repurposed into an effective building material, addressing challenges in both waste management and sustainable construction.

View Journal Article

Research Organization:: Inventwood LLC, College Park, MD (United States)

Sponsoring Organization:: USDOE; USDOE Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy (EERE), Energy Efficiency Office. Building Technologies Office

Grant/Contract Number:: EE0009702

OSTI ID:: 1963125

Alternate ID(s):: OSTI ID: 1970750

Journal Information:: Buildings, Journal Name: Buildings Journal Issue: 4 Vol. 13; ISSN 2075-5309; ISSN BUILCO

Publisher:: MDPI AGCopyright Statement

Country of Publication:: Switzerland

Language:: English

References (27)

Thermal conductivity of wool and wool-hemp insulation Ye, Z.; Wells, C. M.; Carrington, C. G. International Journal of Energy Research, Vol. 30, Issue 1 https://doi.org/10.1002/er.1123	journal	January 2005
Thermal conductivity and diffusivity of wood Suleiman, B. M.; Larfeldt, J.; Leckner, B. Wood Science and Technology, Vol. 33, Issue 6 https://doi.org/10.1007/s002260050130	journal	December 1999
Cellulose/biochar aerogels with excellent mechanical and thermal insulation properties Lazzari, Lídia K.; Perondi, Daniele; Zampieri, Vitória B. Cellulose, Vol. 26, Issue 17 https://doi.org/10.1007/s10570-019-02696-3	journal	August 2019
Computational intelligence techniques for HVAC systems: A review Ahmad, Muhammad Waseem; Mourshed, Monjur; Yuce, Baris Building Simulation, Vol. 9, Issue 4 https://doi.org/10.1007/s12273-016-0285-4	journal	March 2016
Flax and hemp fibres as raw materials for thermal insulations Kymäläinen, Hanna-Riitta; Sjöberg, Anna-Maija Building and Environment, Vol. 43, Issue 7 https://doi.org/10.1016/j.buildenv.2007.03.006	journal	July 2008
Restructure of expanded cork with fumed silica as novel core materials for vacuum insulation panels Zhuang, Jiandong; Ghaffar, Seyed Hamidreza; Fan, Mizi Composites Part B: Engineering, Vol. 127 https://doi.org/10.1016/j.compositesb.2017.06.019	journal	October 2017
Sustainable earth walls to meet the building regulations Goodhew, Steven; Griffiths, Richard Energy and Buildings, Vol. 37, Issue 5 https://doi.org/10.1016/j.enbuild.2004.08.005	journal	May 2005
Assessment of coconut fibre insulation characteristics and its use to modulate temperatures in concrete slabs with the aid of a finite element methodology Rodríguez, N. J.; Yáñez-Limón, M.; Gutiérrez-Miceli, F. A. Energy and Buildings, Vol. 43, Issue 6 https://doi.org/10.1016/j.enbuild.2011.01.005	journal	June 2011
Traditional, state-of-the-art and future thermal building insulation materials and solutions – Properties, requirements and possibilities Jelle, Bjørn Petter Energy and Buildings, Vol. 43, Issue 10 https://doi.org/10.1016/j.enbuild.2011.05.015	journal	October 2011
Development and performance evaluation of natural thermal-insulation materials composed of renewable resources Korjenic, Azra; Petránek, Vít; Zach, Jiří Energy and Buildings, Vol. 43, Issue 9 https://doi.org/10.1016/j.enbuild.2011.06.012	journal	September 2011
Wood waste as an alternative thermal insulation for buildings Cetiner, Ikbal; Shea, Andrew D. Energy and Buildings, Vol. 168 https://doi.org/10.1016/j.enbuild.2018.03.019	journal	June 2018
Thermal Conductivity Analysis of High Porosity Structures with Open and Closed Pores Liu, He; Zhao, Xinpeng International Journal of Heat and Mass Transfer, Vol. 183 https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ijheatmasstransfer.2021.122089	journal	February 2022
Carbon foams with low thermal conductivity and high EMI shielding effectiveness from sawdust Chithra, A.; Wilson, Praveen; Vijayan, Sujith Industrial Crops and Products, Vol. 145 https://doi.org/10.1016/j.indcrop.2019.112076	journal	March 2020
Development and performance evaluation of wood-pulp/glass fibre hybrid composites as core materials for vacuum insulation panels Zhao, Weigang; Yan, Wen; Zhang, Zhicheng Journal of Cleaner Production, Vol. 357 https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jclepro.2022.131957	journal	July 2022
Critical roles of pores and moisture in sustainable nanocellulose-based super-thermal insulators Zhao, Xinpeng; Brozena, Alexandra H.; Hu, Liangbing Matter, Vol. 4, Issue 3 https://doi.org/10.1016/j.matt.2021.02.002	journal	March 2021
Comparative analysis of building insulation material properties and performance Kumar, Dileep; Alam, Morshed; Zou, Patrick X. W. Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Vol. 131 https://doi.org/10.1016/j.rser.2020.110038	journal	October 2020
In Situ Wood Delignification toward Sustainable Applications Li, Jianguo; Chen, Chaoji; Zhu, J. Y. Accounts of Materials Research, Vol. 2, Issue 8 https://doi.org/10.1021/accountsmr.1c00075	journal	August 2021
Emerging Engineered Wood for Building Applications Ding, Yu; Pang, Zhenqian; Lan, Kai Chemical Reviews, Vol. 123, Issue 5 https://doi.org/10.1021/acs.chemrev.2c00450	journal	October 2022
Rapid Processing of Whole Bamboo with Exposed, Aligned Nanofibrils toward a High-Performance Structural Material Chen, Chaoji; Li, Zhihan; Mi, Ruiyu ACS Nano, Vol. 14, Issue 5 https://doi.org/10.1021/acsnano.9b08747	journal	April 2020
A scalable high-porosity wood for sound absorption and thermal insulation Zhao, Xinpeng; Liu, Yu; Zhao, Liuxian Nature Sustainability, Vol. 6, Issue 3 https://doi.org/10.1038/s41893-022-01035-y	journal	January 2023
Thermal properties of cellulose fiber as insulation material in a loose state Brzyski, Przemysław; Kosiński, Piotr; Skoratko, Aneta AIP Conference Proceedings https://doi.org/10.1063/1.5120136	conference	January 2019
Modeling of thermal conductivity of reed products Tsapko, Yu V.; Tsapko, A. Yu; Bondarenko, O. P. IOP Conference Series: Materials Science and Engineering, Vol. 907, Issue 1 https://doi.org/10.1088/1757-899X/907/1/012057	journal	August 2020
Eco-Sustainable Wood Waste Panels for Building Applications: Influence of Different Species and Assembling Techniques on Thermal, Acoustic, and Environmental Performance Merli, Francesca; Belloni, Elisa; Buratti, Cinzia Buildings, Vol. 11, Issue 8 https://doi.org/10.3390/buildings11080361	journal	August 2021
Development of Vacuum Insulation Panels with Utilization of Organic By-Products Zach, Jiří; Novák, Vítězslav; Peterková, Jitka Energies, Vol. 13, Issue 5 https://doi.org/10.3390/en13051165	journal	March 2020
Characterization of Microstructure, Chemical, and Physical Properties of Delignified and Densified Poplar Wood Wang, Jiajun; Liu, Junliang; Li, Jianzhang Materials, Vol. 14, Issue 19 https://doi.org/10.3390/ma14195709	journal	September 2021
Seagrass Leaves: An Alternative Resource for the Production of Insulation Materials Kuqo, Aldi; Mai, Carsten Materials, Vol. 15, Issue 19 https://doi.org/10.3390/ma15196933	journal	October 2022
Development and Research of Thermal Insulation Materials from Natural Fibres Vaitkus, Saulius; Karpavičiūtė, Rūta; Vėjelis, Sigitas Key Engineering Materials, Vol. 604 https://doi.org/10.4028/www.scientific.net/KEM.604.285	journal	March 2014

Similar Records

In Situ Wood Delignification toward Sustainable Applications

Journal Article · Sat Jul 31 20:00:00 EDT 2021 · Accounts of Materials Research · OSTI ID:1843669

Engineered Wood: Sustainable Technologies and Applications

Journal Article · Sun Jul 02 20:00:00 EDT 2023 · Annual Review of Materials Research · OSTI ID:2422286

Related Subjects

32 ENERGY CONSERVATION, CONSUMPTION, AND UTILIZATION
buildings
thermal comfort
thermal insulation
wood waste

Sustainable Wood-Waste-Based Thermal Insulation Foam for Building Energy Efficiency

Citation Formats

References (27)

Similar Records

Related Subjects