Incorporating Kenaf and Oil Palm Nanocellulose in Building Materials for Indoor Radon Gas Emanation Reduction

Abstract

<jats:title>Abstract</jats:title> <jats:p>This study aims to reduce radon gas emanations in the indoor environment by incorporating kenaf and oil palm nanocellulose that act as nano-fillers into building materials. Fabrication of composite brick was carried out according to the MS and ASTM standards. In this research, 40, 80, 120, 160 and 200 ml of nanocellulose were used to replace the usage of sand, stone and cement materials, respectively. Kenaf and oil palm nanocellulose were utilised to reduce the internal and surface porosity as well as to replace the radon resources (stone), which indirectly reduced radon gas emanation. Radon gas emanated from each composite brick was measured within 10 consecutive days in an airtight prototype Perspex room using Radon Monitor Sentinel 1030. A compression test was also carried out to investigate the physical strength of the fabricated composite bricks. The results showed that 40 ml of kenaf and oil palm nanocellulose was the optimum amount in reducing the radon concentration, where the radon readings were 1.4 and 0.93 pCi per l, respectively. Meanwhile, the brick with no nanocellulose exhibited the highest radon reading of 3.77 pCi per l. Moreover, the Young modulus for the composite brick of both kenaf and oil palm nanocellulose was 28.92 and 27.8 N per mm2 compared to the control brick, which was 27 N per mm2. The results proved that radon gas emanations were reduced by 62.86% for kenaf and 75.3% for oil palm by incorporating the organic nanocellulose, which has high potential towards a healthy indoor environment.</jats:p>

Mechanical Enhancement of Composite Bricks Using Kenaf and Oil Palm Cellulose Nanofibrils

“…The morphology of Kenaf CNF can be observed in Figure 2(b) that there is a network of fiber and agglomerate particles using FESEM. This is due to strong intermolecular and intramolecular hydrogen bonding between the fibers [12,13]. This nano network was clearly seen at the internal structures of brick fractions for 200 ml CNF composite bricks as shown in Figures 4(c) and 4(d), respectively.…”

“…Cellulose was then filtered and dried through air dry process. The cellulose was weighed for 0.4 g, added into distilled water and sonicated for 30 minutes using ultrasonicator model QSONICA Q500 with frequency of 20 kHz, with amplitude 70% and time interval 0.5 s for 15 minutes to obtain final products as shown in Figure 1 [13,14]. Universal Testing Machine (UTM).…”