| Title |
Towards a circular economy: valorization of banana peels by developing bio-composites thermal insulators |
| ID_Doc |
5426 |
| Authors |
Mohamed, GR; Mahmoud, RK; Shaban, M; Fahim, IS; Abd El-Salam, HM; Mahmoud, HM |
| Title |
Towards a circular economy: valorization of banana peels by developing bio-composites thermal insulators |
| Year |
2023 |
| Published |
Scientific Reports, 13, 1 |
| DOI |
10.1038/s41598-023-37994-1 |
| Abstract |
The building construction materials are responsible for a large amount of energy and natural resource consumption. In light of the current challenges of resource scarcity and global climate change, the circular economy (CE) is a promising strategy to mitigate pressure on the environment, improve supplying of raw materials, and increase new market and employment opportunities. Developing eco-friendly thermal insulation materials based on agro-waste is a new waste management trend to achieve the sustainability of the resource and energy consumption in the construction sectors. In this work, banana-polystyrene composites were prepared by mixing the banana peels powder (BP) with polystyrene (PS) in different weight ratios (90:10, 80:20, 70:30, and 60:40). The physical and thermal properties such as thermal conductivity, electrical conductivity, Fourier Transform Infrared (FTIR), crystallographic structures of the fibers, X-Ray Diffraction (XRD), Thermogravimetric Analysis (TGA), and Differential Scanning Calorimetry (DSC) were carried out on BP and BP-PS1 that were prepared with ten wt.% and 20 wt.% of polystyrene powder (BP-PS2). The bio-composites results showed low thermal conductivity ranging from 0.028 to 0.030 W/m.K. The BP-PS2 exhibited a lower thermal conductivity of 0.027 W/m.K, while the pure peel powder demonstrated notable thermal stability, indicated by a total weight loss of 66.4% and a high crystallinity value of 56.1%. Furthermore, the thermal analysis (TGA) and X-Ray Diffraction (XRD) demonstrated that the pure banana peel has the highest thermal stability and crystallinity. These findings indicate that using banana peel-polystyrene composites represents an innovative solution for thermal insulation in buildings as an alternative to conventional materials to reduce energy and resource consumption. |
| Author Keywords |
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| Index Keywords |
Index Keywords |
| Document Type |
Other |
| Open Access |
Open Access |
| Source |
Science Citation Index Expanded (SCI-EXPANDED) |
| EID |
WOS:001044365500040 |
| WoS Category |
Multidisciplinary Sciences |
| Research Area |
Science & Technology - Other Topics |
| PDF |
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