Thermophysical characterization of organic agricultural waste products

Raising of problem. Nowadays the main problem of construction in Ukraine is an issue of energy efficiency and high quality thermal insulation of building walls. Over the last decade the concept of "sustainable development" is being implemented into the construction industry of developed countries. The main aim of this concept is decreasing the total negative impact of buildings on the environment and human. It can be achieved by reducing the use of natural resources and minimize the amount of harmful emissions into the environment. It should be noted that only in Europe the construction industry is a producer of about 20% of greenhouse gas emissions that pollute the atmosphere. Depletion of some types of natural raw recourses leads to the necessity of using waste products in the development of new products. The agricultural waste materials such as straw, flax and hemp sheaves, cotton stalks, etc. form a big base of raw materials. One of the ways of its utilization is using these materials as raw materials for production of thermal insulation materials for low-rise construction. We can use an organic or inorganic binders as bind material. Purpose. The purpose of this paper is studying the composition and structure of such organic materials as wheat straw and flax sheaves, as well as investigates their thermal properties. Conclusion. The theoretical and experimental study of composition and structure and thermal characteristics of monocomponent insulating materials were investigated. The results of the experiments show that the local fast renewable materials are characterized by high thermal insulation properties (thermal conductivity coefficient about 0.0424 - 0.055 W / (m ? K)), and therefore can be used as a aggregates for the light insulating concretes.