Thermophysical Properties of Sawdust and Coconut Coir Dust Incorporated Unfired Clay Blocks
Sawdust and coconut coir dust are agro-wastes/by-products which are suitable for use as raw materials to manufacture unfired clay blocks due to their excellent physical and mechanical properties. A limited number of studies have been conducted on the utilisation of these agro-wastes in clay block pr...
| Main Authors: | , , , , |
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
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MDPI AG
2022-10-01
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| Series: | Construction Materials |
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| Online Access: | https://www.mdpi.com/2673-7108/2/4/16 |
| _version_ | 1797624908888408064 |
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| author | Nusrat Jannat Jeff Cullen Badr Abdullah Rafal Latif Al-Mufti Karyono Karyono |
| author_facet | Nusrat Jannat Jeff Cullen Badr Abdullah Rafal Latif Al-Mufti Karyono Karyono |
| author_sort | Nusrat Jannat |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | Sawdust and coconut coir dust are agro-wastes/by-products which are suitable for use as raw materials to manufacture unfired clay blocks due to their excellent physical and mechanical properties. A limited number of studies have been conducted on the utilisation of these agro-wastes in clay block production, and they have mostly been devoted to investigating the physicomechanical properties, with less attention given to the thermal properties. Moreover, the majority of the studies have used chemical binders (cement and lime) in combination with agro-waste, thus increasing the carbon footprint and embodied energy of the samples. Furthermore, no research has been performed on the thermal performance of these agro-wastes when incorporated into clay blocks at the wall scale. Therefore, to address these limitations, the present study developed unfired clay blocks incorporating sawdust and coconut coir dust (0, 2.5, 5, and 7.5% by weight), without the use of chemical binders, and evaluated their thermal performance, both at the individual and wall scales. The experiments were divided into two phases. In the first phase, individual sample blocks was tested for basic thermal properties. Based on the results of the first phase, small walls with dimensions of 310 mm × 215 mm × 100 mm were built in the second phase, using the best performing mixture from each waste type, and these were assessed for thermal performance using an adapted hot box method. The thermal performance of the walls was evaluated by measuring the heat transfer rate from hot to cold environments and comparing the results to the reference wall. The results showed that thermal conductivity decreased from 0.36 W/mK for the reference sample, to 0.19 W/mK for the 7.5% coconut coir dust sample, and 0.21 W/mK for the 7.5% sawdust sample, indicating an improvement in thermal insulation. Furthermore, the coconut coir dust and sawdust sample walls showed a thermal resistance improvement of around 48% and 35%, respectively, over the reference sample wall. Consequently, the findings of this study will provide additional essential information that will help in assessing the prospective applications of sawdust and coconut coir dust as the insulating material for manufacturing unfired clay blocks. |
| first_indexed | 2024-03-11T09:49:19Z |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj.art-910b965047d24e07a8d1a8538d0cab76 |
| institution | Directory Open Access Journal |
| issn | 2673-7108 |
| language | English |
| last_indexed | 2024-03-11T09:49:19Z |
| publishDate | 2022-10-01 |
| publisher | MDPI AG |
| record_format | Article |
| series | Construction Materials |
| spelling | doaj.art-910b965047d24e07a8d1a8538d0cab762023-11-16T16:22:51ZengMDPI AGConstruction Materials2673-71082022-10-012423425710.3390/constrmater2040016Thermophysical Properties of Sawdust and Coconut Coir Dust Incorporated Unfired Clay BlocksNusrat Jannat0Jeff Cullen1Badr Abdullah2Rafal Latif Al-Mufti3Karyono Karyono4School of Civil Engineering & Built Environment, Liverpool John Moores University, Byrom Street, Liverpool L3 3AF, UKSchool of Civil Engineering & Built Environment, Liverpool John Moores University, Byrom Street, Liverpool L3 3AF, UKSchool of Civil Engineering & Built Environment, Liverpool John Moores University, Byrom Street, Liverpool L3 3AF, UKSchool of Civil Engineering & Built Environment, Liverpool John Moores University, Byrom Street, Liverpool L3 3AF, UKSchool of Civil Engineering & Built Environment, Liverpool John Moores University, Byrom Street, Liverpool L3 3AF, UKSawdust and coconut coir dust are agro-wastes/by-products which are suitable for use as raw materials to manufacture unfired clay blocks due to their excellent physical and mechanical properties. A limited number of studies have been conducted on the utilisation of these agro-wastes in clay block production, and they have mostly been devoted to investigating the physicomechanical properties, with less attention given to the thermal properties. Moreover, the majority of the studies have used chemical binders (cement and lime) in combination with agro-waste, thus increasing the carbon footprint and embodied energy of the samples. Furthermore, no research has been performed on the thermal performance of these agro-wastes when incorporated into clay blocks at the wall scale. Therefore, to address these limitations, the present study developed unfired clay blocks incorporating sawdust and coconut coir dust (0, 2.5, 5, and 7.5% by weight), without the use of chemical binders, and evaluated their thermal performance, both at the individual and wall scales. The experiments were divided into two phases. In the first phase, individual sample blocks was tested for basic thermal properties. Based on the results of the first phase, small walls with dimensions of 310 mm × 215 mm × 100 mm were built in the second phase, using the best performing mixture from each waste type, and these were assessed for thermal performance using an adapted hot box method. The thermal performance of the walls was evaluated by measuring the heat transfer rate from hot to cold environments and comparing the results to the reference wall. The results showed that thermal conductivity decreased from 0.36 W/mK for the reference sample, to 0.19 W/mK for the 7.5% coconut coir dust sample, and 0.21 W/mK for the 7.5% sawdust sample, indicating an improvement in thermal insulation. Furthermore, the coconut coir dust and sawdust sample walls showed a thermal resistance improvement of around 48% and 35%, respectively, over the reference sample wall. Consequently, the findings of this study will provide additional essential information that will help in assessing the prospective applications of sawdust and coconut coir dust as the insulating material for manufacturing unfired clay blocks.https://www.mdpi.com/2673-7108/2/4/16agro-wastesclay blocksthermalunfiredwall |
| spellingShingle | Nusrat Jannat Jeff Cullen Badr Abdullah Rafal Latif Al-Mufti Karyono Karyono Thermophysical Properties of Sawdust and Coconut Coir Dust Incorporated Unfired Clay Blocks Construction Materials agro-wastes clay blocks thermal unfired wall |
| title | Thermophysical Properties of Sawdust and Coconut Coir Dust Incorporated Unfired Clay Blocks |
| title_full | Thermophysical Properties of Sawdust and Coconut Coir Dust Incorporated Unfired Clay Blocks |
| title_fullStr | Thermophysical Properties of Sawdust and Coconut Coir Dust Incorporated Unfired Clay Blocks |
| title_full_unstemmed | Thermophysical Properties of Sawdust and Coconut Coir Dust Incorporated Unfired Clay Blocks |
| title_short | Thermophysical Properties of Sawdust and Coconut Coir Dust Incorporated Unfired Clay Blocks |
| title_sort | thermophysical properties of sawdust and coconut coir dust incorporated unfired clay blocks |
| topic | agro-wastes clay blocks thermal unfired wall |
| url | https://www.mdpi.com/2673-7108/2/4/16 |
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