Eco-Sustainable Wood Waste Panels for Building Applications: Influence of Different Species and Assembling Techniques on Thermal, Acoustic, and Environmental Performance

Abstract

Multiple high quality wood waste from a window manufacturer is identified and collected. Eco-sustainable panels, with promising acoustic and thermal insulating performance, were then fabricated. The available wood is of different tree species (pine, oak, and mahogany) and size (pieces of wood, mixed coarse chips, and mixed fine chips). Moreover, scraps of olive tree pruning from local areas were collected for reuse. The aim of the research is to assembly panels (300 × 300 mm2) both with different techniques (hand-made and hot-pressed) and type of adhesive (vinyl and flour glues) and to evaluate their thermal, acoustic, and environmental performance. All the panels present thermal and acoustic performance comparable with the similar ones available in the literature or with commercial solutions. The thermal conductivity varies in the 0.071 to 0.084 W/mK range at an average temperature of 10 °C, depending on the tree species, the assembly technique, and regardless of the type of adhesive used. Oak wood panels are characterized by both better sound absorption (α peak value of 0.9, similar to pine pressed sample with flour glue) and insulation (transmission loss up to 11 dB at 1700 Hz) properties. However, their added value is the low environmental impact assessed through life cycle analysis in compliance with ISO 14040, especially for panels assembled with natural glue.

Methods to Account for Design for Disassembly: Status of the Building Sector

“…In Europe, wood-based construction materials constitute a substantial stock of construction materials, with the main driver being the alignment with the European climate targets [52]. The other benefits of wood-based materials are their high potential for recycling, reuse, and energy recovery at their end of life [53]. From a CE point of view, even agricultural and industrial wood wastes can play an important role in CE, as they can serve as a valuable secondary resource for making other products, e.g., insulation or chipboard panels.…”

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

“…Wood chip repurposing strategies include use in products such as mulch, particle board, oriented strand board, and building insulation [10]. Researchers have discovered that it is possible to use biomassbased materials (e.g., wood waste) to fabricate environmentally friendly and thermally efficient insulation products [11,12]. For example, Merli et al prepared environmentally friendly panels from wood waste through hot-pressing and hand-assembling techniques with vinyl and flour glue binder [11].…”

“…Researchers have discovered that it is possible to use biomassbased materials (e.g., wood waste) to fabricate environmentally friendly and thermally efficient insulation products [11,12]. For example, Merli et al prepared environmentally friendly panels from wood waste through hot-pressing and hand-assembling techniques with vinyl and flour glue binder [11]. Similarly, Cetiner et al prepared thermal insulation from wood waste through the wet-spray and loose-fill methods without binder [12].…”

“…A typical application for these environmentally friendly building insulation materials is the use in wall construction systems such as timber framing [12]. Unfortunately, many woodbased insulation materials have only been shown to achieve a thermal conductivity in the range of 0.048-0.084 W/(m•K) [11,12]. One explanation for this high thermal conductivity range may be the large percentage of binding agents (e.g., 25% vinyl glue and 60% flour glue) used in the insulation fabrication process, which is necessary to form a cohesive bond with the natural wood waste [11].…”

Flexural behavior of fiber reinforced composites sandwich panels with a reused wooden core

“…The waste wood in US increased to 55.2 million tons in 2015, which accounts for about 6.2% of the total solid waste of US (U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, 2022a, b), and China produced about 85.0 million tons in 2022 as well (Tiseo, 2023). If such a tremendous amount of waste wood is not properly dealt with, it will become a threat on the environment, and hinder the establishment of circular economy (Buratti, 2021;Hoeglmeier et al, 2014).…”