Thermal Assessment of a New Bio-Based Insulation Material

In recent times, the building sector is moving towards new approaches to energy-efficient design "low energy consumption". The development of bio-based thermal insulation materials contributes to such approaches; their implementation in the building gives a good result in a reduction of energy demand. Moreover, another beneficial environmental portion such as the reduction in the depletion of non-renewable resources and in waste generation. Using thermal insulation in the building envelope can substantially reduce the building's thermal load and consequently its energy consumption. Thermal insulation is organic or inorganic material, manufactured to reduce the propagation of the heat by a combined heat transfer (i.e., conduction, convection, and radiation). More advanced insulation materials have been recently developed. However, most of the available insulations are not eco-friendly and may require a huge amount of energy and complex manufacturing processes to be produced. Some commercialized bio-based thermal insulation materials are currently available, such as industrial fibers hemp, flax, kenaf. Also, recently some researches are conducted to develop thermal food-crop by-product insulation from palm date, pin apple leaves and rice husk. However, production cost and lower thermal resistance are the main correlated issues. A new cheap bio-insulation material with huge commercialization potential and environmental footprint is proposed. The main idea of running a project is to develop a new material, which is environmentally friendly insulation from grain. The early experiments of the insulation product showed a similar or even better thermal performance that could compete with common insulation materials such as polystyrene.