Building materials derived from agricultural and industrial waste are becoming more attractive in the civil engineering and architectural applications because of their sustainability and lower environmental impact. In addition, substantial value can be added to the wastes by producing value added products from them. Therefore, four different types of locally available by-products (rice husk, wheat husk, wood fibers and textile waste fibers) were used to produce composites with a biodegradable poly(butylene adipate-co-terephthalate)/poly(lactic acid)(PBAT/PLA) blend binder by hot pressing. The morphological analysis of the composites revealed that the PBAT/PLA binder had more affinity with wood and textile fibers than with wheat and rice husks. The prepared composites showed thermal stability until 250 °C. All the prepared biodegradable composites exhibited good compressive strength (11-40 MPa) and flexural strength (0.80-2.25 MPa). The observed mechanical properties allow easy handling without risk of breaking them when positioned in the buildings. The biodegradable composites were characterized for their thermal conductivity, diffusivity, effusivity and heat capacity. The density and thermal conductivity of the produced composite was in the range of 378-488 kg/m 3 and 0.08-0.14 W/m.K, respectively. The least thermal conductivity i.e. 0.08 W/m.K was observed for the rice husk composite with a density of 378 kg/m 3. A minimum water absorption (42%) was found in the rice husk composites after 24 h immersion in water. The composite samples were still cohesive after 24 h immersion in the water because of the water resistance nature of the binder. The prepared biodegradable composites meet most of the required properties for the indoor building insulation applications and show great potential to replace the conventional building material in current use.

Alginate derived from seaweed is a natural polysaccharide able to form stable gel through carbohydrate functional groups largely used in the food and pharmaceutical industry. This article deals with the use of sodium alginate as an adhesive binder for wood fibres/textile waste fibres biocomposites. Several aldehyde-based crosslinking agents (glyoxal, glutaraldehyde) were compared for various wood/textile waste ratios (100/0, 50/50, 60/40, 70/30 and 0/100 in weight). The fully biomass derived composites whose properties are herewith described satisfy most of the appropriate requirements for building materials. They are insulating with a thermal conductivity in the range 0.078-0.089 W/m/K for an average density in the range 308-333 kg/m3 according to the biocomposite considered. They are semi-rigid with a maximal mechanical strength of 0.84 MPa under bending and 0.44 MPa under compression for 60/40 w/w wood/textile waste biocomposites with a glutaraldehyde crosslinking agent.

The main objective of this study is devoted to the development of new insulating and ignifuged miscanthus fibers (Mf)/recycled textile fibers (RTf) reinforced biocomposites (BCs) using chitosan as polysaccharide‐based binder and aluminum trihydroxide (ATH) fillers while focusing on the fire behavior. To achieve this goal, a preliminary study was carried out on flame retarded chitosan‐based films with various ATH‐filler ratios (20, 33, 50, and 60 wt %). ATG and pyrolysis‐combustion flow calorimeter analysis showed significant improvement of chitosan thermal behavior with the addition of 33 wt % and above of ATH. Mechanical properties of films were, however, degraded. Thereafter, different ratios of miscanthus/RTf reinforced BCs (fibers content up to 89.5–90 wt %) were elaborated through thermocompression process using neat chitosan and chitosan/ATH (67/33 wt %) as a binder. Mechanical, thermal, and fire behavior were evaluated. Higher mechanical properties were found for hybrid materials containing the association of both RTf and Mf in comparison to those containing only RTf or Mf. Fireproof BCs (E rating: according to the NF EN ISO 11925‐2), with thermal conductivity values between 0.07 and 0.09 W m−1 K−1 and density range between 270 and 299 kg m−3 were successfully elaborated. The results of this study show a promising use of the chitosan/ATH system as flame retardant for biobased insulating building materials. © 2018 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J. Appl. Polym. Sci. 2019, 136, 47306.

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h i g h l i g h t sThermal chitosan based insulating panels made of miscanthus fibres, rice husks and recycled textile wastes were developed. Better insulating properties were obtained for medium sized fibres panels. Linear relationship is found for thermal conductivity and effusivity compared to particles size. Better mechanical performance for short miscanthus fibers (Ms < 1 mm) alone or mixed with textile waste.