Thermo-acoustic building insulation materials fabricated with recycled fibers – Jute, Wool and Loofah

Reducing the environmental impact of construction, one of the most polluting industrial sectors, is essential to combat the climate crisis and, for this purpose, we need to start from natural, recyclable and sustainable materials. In this research, panels fabricated with jute and wool fibers, recycled respectively from jute bags used (end-life) for packaging coffee beans and from old (end-life) mattresses, and panels fabricated with a loofah-clay mix were realized and characterized. Comparative analyses were carried out considering in particular insulating characteristics in terms of thermal conductivity and acoustic performance. The thermal conductivity values obtained for jute fibers panels are always included in the upper range of results available for wool fiber with similar density (about 20 kg/m3), but always the lower range of results available for jute-polyester-polypropylene sandwich composite panels. The results obtained for products with clay are obviously strongly dependent on the percentage of binder (clay) in the mix, the increase of which leads to an increase in density, negatively influencing the results obtained. Also, if from the acoustic point of view, it is not possible to add the contribution of the single layers, the noise insulation calculated for the different materials under test has shown for the single layer the good property to break down the noise.