IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/gam/jeners/v14y2021i12p3564-d575533.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Thermal Characterization of Recycled Materials for Building Insulation

Author

Listed:
  • Arnas Majumder

    (Department of Civil Engineering, University of Salerno, Via Giovanni Paolo II 132, 84084 Fisciano, Italy)

  • Laura Canale

    (Department of Civil and Mechanical Engineering, University of Cassino and South Lazio, 03043 Cassino, Italy)

  • Costantino Carlo Mastino

    (Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering, University of Cagliari, 09123 Cagliari, Italy)

  • Antonio Pacitto

    (Department of Civil and Mechanical Engineering, University of Cassino and South Lazio, 03043 Cassino, Italy)

  • Andrea Frattolillo

    (Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering, University of Cagliari, 09123 Cagliari, Italy)

  • Marco Dell’Isola

    (Department of Civil and Mechanical Engineering, University of Cassino and South Lazio, 03043 Cassino, Italy)

Abstract

The building sector is known to have a significant environmental impact, considering that it is the largest contributor to global greenhouse gas emissions of around 36% and is also responsible for about 40% of global energy consumption. Of this, about 50% takes place during the building operational phase, while around 10–20% is consumed in materials manufacturing, transport and building construction, maintenance, and demolition. Increasing the necessity of reducing the environmental impact of buildings has led to enhancing not only the thermal performances of building materials, but also the environmental sustainability of their production chains and waste prevention. As a consequence, novel thermo-insulating building materials or products have been developed by using both locally produced natural and waste/recycled materials that are able to provide good thermal performances while also having a lower environmental impact. In this context, the aim of this work is to provide a detailed analysis for the thermal characterization of recycled materials for building insulation. To this end, the thermal behavior of different materials representing industrial residual or wastes collected or recycled using Sardinian zero-km locally available raw materials was investigated, namely: (1) plasters with recycled materials; (2) plasters with natural fibers; and (3) building insulation materials with natural fibers. Results indicate that the investigated materials were able to improve not only the energy performances but also the environmental comfort in both new and in existing buildings. In particular, plasters and mortars with recycled materials and with natural fibers showed, respectively, values of thermal conductivity (at 20 °C) lower than 0.475 and 0.272 W/(m⋅K), while that of building materials with natural fibers was always lower than 0.162 W/(m⋅K) with lower values for compounds with recycled materials (0.107 W/(m⋅K)). Further developments are underway to analyze the mechanical properties of these materials.

Suggested Citation

  • Arnas Majumder & Laura Canale & Costantino Carlo Mastino & Antonio Pacitto & Andrea Frattolillo & Marco Dell’Isola, 2021. "Thermal Characterization of Recycled Materials for Building Insulation," Energies, MDPI, vol. 14(12), pages 1-16, June.
  • Handle: RePEc:gam:jeners:v:14:y:2021:i:12:p:3564-:d:575533
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/1996-1073/14/12/3564/pdf
    Download Restriction: no

    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/1996-1073/14/12/3564/
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Joelsson, Anna & Gustavsson, Leif, 2009. "District heating and energy efficiency in detached houses of differing size and construction," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 86(2), pages 126-134, February.
    2. Cabeza, Luisa F. & Rincón, Lídia & Vilariño, Virginia & Pérez, Gabriel & Castell, Albert, 2014. "Life cycle assessment (LCA) and life cycle energy analysis (LCEA) of buildings and the building sector: A review," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 29(C), pages 394-416.
    3. Schiavoni, S. & D׳Alessandro, F. & Bianchi, F. & Asdrubali, F., 2016. "Insulation materials for the building sector: A review and comparative analysis," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 62(C), pages 988-1011.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Antonella Violano & Monica Cannaviello, 2023. "The Carbon Footprint of Thermal Insulation: The Added Value of Circular Models Using Recycled Textile Waste," Energies, MDPI, vol. 16(19), pages 1-24, September.
    2. Rima Aridi & Jalal Faraj & Samer Ali & Mostafa Gad El-Rab & Thierry Lemenand & Mahmoud Khaled, 2021. "Energy Recovery in Air Conditioning Systems: Comprehensive Review, Classifications, Critical Analysis, and Potential Recommendations," Energies, MDPI, vol. 14(18), pages 1-31, September.
    3. Maatouk Khoukhi & Abeer Dar Saleh & Ahmed Hassan & Shaimaa Abdelbaqi, 2021. "Thermal Characterization of a New Bio-Based Insulation Material Containing Puffed Rice," Energies, MDPI, vol. 14(18), pages 1-12, September.

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Gabriel Fernando García Sánchez & Rolando Enrique Guzmán López & Roberto Alonso Gonzalez-Lezcano, 2021. "Fique as a Sustainable Material and Thermal Insulation for Buildings: Study of Its Decomposition and Thermal Conductivity," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 13(13), pages 1-12, July.
    2. Elisa Di Giuseppe & Marco D’Orazio & Guangli Du & Claudio Favi & Sébastien Lasvaux & Gianluca Maracchini & Pierryves Padey, 2020. "A Stochastic Approach to LCA of Internal Insulation Solutions for Historic Buildings," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 12(4), pages 1-35, February.
    3. Benedetti Miriam & Herce Carlos & Sforzini Matteo & Susca Tiziana & Toro Claudia, 2024. "Defining a sustainable supply chain for buildings Off-Site envelope thermal insulation solutions: proposal of a methodology to investigate opportunities based on a context analysis," Logistics, Supply Chain, Sustainability and Global Challenges, Sciendo, vol. 15(s1), pages 38-57.
    4. Du, Kun & Calautit, John & Eames, Philip & Wu, Yupeng, 2021. "A state-of-the-art review of the application of phase change materials (PCM) in Mobilized-Thermal Energy Storage (M-TES) for recovering low-temperature industrial waste heat (IWH) for distributed heat," Renewable Energy, Elsevier, vol. 168(C), pages 1040-1057.
    5. Burek, Jasmina & Nutter, Darin W., 2019. "A life cycle assessment-based multi-objective optimization of the purchased, solar, and wind energy for the grocery, perishables, and general merchandise multi-facility distribution center network," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 235(C), pages 1427-1446.
    6. Jiang, Wei & Jin, Yang & Liu, Gongliang & Li, Qing & Li, Dong, 2023. "Passive nearly zero energy retrofits of rammed earth rural residential buildings based on energy efficiency and cost-effectiveness analysis," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 180(C).
    7. Sierra-Pérez, Jorge & Rodríguez-Soria, Beatriz & Boschmonart-Rives, Jesús & Gabarrell, Xavier, 2018. "Integrated life cycle assessment and thermodynamic simulation of a public building’s envelope renovation: Conventional vs. Passivhaus proposal," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 212(C), pages 1510-1521.
    8. Luis M. López-Ochoa & Jesús Las-Heras-Casas & Luis M. López-González & César García-Lozano, 2020. "Energy Renovation of Residential Buildings in Cold Mediterranean Zones Using Optimized Thermal Envelope Insulation Thicknesses: The Case of Spain," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 12(6), pages 1-34, March.
    9. Sungwoo Lee & Sungho Tae & Seungjun Roh & Taehyung Kim, 2015. "Green Template for Life Cycle Assessment of Buildings Based on Building Information Modeling: Focus on Embodied Environmental Impact," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 7(12), pages 1-15, December.
    10. Patricia González-Vallejo & Radu Muntean & Jaime Solís-Guzmán & Madelyn Marrero, 2020. "Carbon Footprint of Dwelling Construction in Romania and Spain. A Comparative Analysis with the OERCO2 Tool," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 12(17), pages 1-22, August.
    11. Roux, Charlotte & Schalbart, Patrick & Assoumou, Edi & Peuportier, Bruno, 2016. "Integrating climate change and energy mix scenarios in LCA of buildings and districts," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 184(C), pages 619-629.
    12. Cui, Li & Chan, Hing Kai & Zhou, Yizhuo & Dai, Jing & Lim, Jia Jia, 2019. "Exploring critical factors of green business failure based on Grey-Decision Making Trial and Evaluation Laboratory (DEMATEL)," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 98(C), pages 450-461.
    13. Antonello Monsù Scolaro & Stefania De Medici, 2021. "Downcycling and Upcycling in Rehabilitation and Adaptive Reuse of Pre-Existing Buildings: Re-Designing Technological Performances in an Environmental Perspective," Energies, MDPI, vol. 14(21), pages 1-23, October.
    14. Maria Anna Cusenza & Teresa Maria Gulotta & Marina Mistretta & Maurizio Cellura, 2021. "Life Cycle Energy and Environmental Assessment of the Thermal Insulation Improvement in Residential Buildings," Energies, MDPI, vol. 14(12), pages 1-21, June.
    15. Sultan Çetin & Catherine De Wolf & Nancy Bocken, 2021. "Circular Digital Built Environment: An Emerging Framework," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 13(11), pages 1-34, June.
    16. Jin-Young Park & Byung-Soo Kim & Dong-Eun Lee, 2021. "Environmental and Cost Impact Assessment of Pavement Materials Using IBEES Method," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 13(4), pages 1-20, February.
    17. Dzikuć Maciej, 2015. "Environmental management with the use of LCA in the Polish energy system," Management, Sciendo, vol. 19(1), pages 89-97, May.
    18. Arman Hashemi & Heather Cruickshank & Ali Cheshmehzangi, 2015. "Environmental Impacts and Embodied Energy of Construction Methods and Materials in Low-Income Tropical Housing," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 7(6), pages 1-18, June.
    19. Qianqian Zhao & Junzhen Li & Roman Fediuk & Sergey Klyuev & Darya Nemova, 2021. "Benefit Evaluation Model of Prefabricated Buildings in Seasonally Frozen Regions," Energies, MDPI, vol. 14(21), pages 1-18, November.
    20. Chau, C.K. & Xu, J.M. & Leung, T.M. & Ng, W.Y., 2017. "Evaluation of the impacts of end-of-life management strategies for deconstruction of a high-rise concrete framed office building," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 185(P2), pages 1595-1603.

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:gam:jeners:v:14:y:2021:i:12:p:3564-:d:575533. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: MDPI Indexing Manager (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://www.mdpi.com .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.