Experimental analysis of building components with paper and textile waste

Abstract

The fast growth of building constructions industry and of the universal population is the main cause of increase in global energy consumption. Therefore, the improvement of the building envelope encourages the scientific community to investigate the use of alternative materials that assure indoor comfort conditions and at the same time promote the reduction of energy consumption by adopting energy saving strategies in the manufacturing process. The present research contribution aims to focus on the potential use of innovative building materials developed with waste paper, classified as urban non-hazardous discard component. The use of paper pulp originated from recycled paper and cardboard with the addition of textile fibers from industrial by-products was explored. Here, an effort has been made to realize sustainable insulating panel for internal use, considering different mix design and recycled components in various percentages. The research focuses on hygric, thermal, and physical performances of recycled waste based panels, measuring physical aspects as bulk porosity and bulk density and testing hygrothermal performances as the dry-state thermal conductivity, thermal diffusivity, volumetric heat capacity, and water vapour permeability. Furthermore, in order to assess the hygrothermal behaviour of the building envelope, a numerical simulation, carried out by WUFI® Plus in a Mediterranean context, was developed using as inputs the results collected from the measurement campaign in laboratory.