Composite Materials of Rice Husk and Reed Fibers for Thermal Insulation Plates Using Sodium Silicate as a Binder

Alana Silva (), Florindo Gaspar and Aliaksandr Bakatovich
Additional contact information
Alana Silva: Centre for Rapid and Sustainable Product Development (CDRSP), School of Technology and Management, Polytechnic Institute of Leiria Campus 2, 2430-028 Marinha Grande, Portugal
Florindo Gaspar: Centre for Rapid and Sustainable Product Development (CDRSP), School of Technology and Management, Polytechnic Institute of Leiria Campus 2, 2430-028 Marinha Grande, Portugal
Aliaksandr Bakatovich: Faculty of Civil Engineering, Polotsk State University, Blokhin Str., 29, 211440 Novopolotsk, Belarus

Sustainability, 2023, vol. 15, issue 14, 1-20

Abstract: The civil construction industry is responsible for a large part of the world’s energy consumption; therefore, in recent years, sustainable practices in this sector have become increasingly common to minimize the environmental impacts of civil construction during the life cycle of buildings. As a result, new materials and more sustainable building techniques are being sought. In Portugal, rice husk is an abundant agricultural waste with great potential to be used as a raw material in thermal insulation materials, as well as giant reed, which is considered an invasive plant. In this study, thermal insulation plates composed of rice husks and/or reed fiber were developed, using sodium silicate as a binder in various proportions and with dimensions of 30 × 30 × 3 cm and density ranging between 0.219 and 0.352 g/cm 3 . The main objective of the study is to evaluate the thermal characteristics of the plates, such as thermal conductivity, as well as the mechanical resistance to bending and water absorption. The results of the thermal conductivity tests were promising for all compositions, with values in the range between 0.0602 and 0.0745 W/m·K, meeting the requirements to be considered as thermal insulation materials. The results for bending strength and water absorption presented values within the expected range for materials of vegetal origin.

Keywords: thermal insulation; sustainable building; agricultural waste; rice husk; reed fiber (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: O13 Q Q0 Q2 Q3 Q5 Q56 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2023
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations:

Downloads: (external link)
https://www.mdpi.com/2071-1050/15/14/11273/pdf (application/pdf)
https://www.mdpi.com/2071-1050/15/14/11273/ (text/html)

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:gam:jsusta:v:15:y:2023:i:14:p:11273-:d:1197838

Access Statistics for this article

Sustainability is currently edited by Ms. Alexandra Wu

More articles in Sustainability from MDPI
Bibliographic data for series maintained by MDPI Indexing Manager ().