Grantee Research Project Results
Final Report: Growing Alternative Sustainable Buildings: Biocomposite Products from Natural Fiber, Biodegradable and Recyclable Polymer Materials for Load-bearing Construction Components
EPA Grant Number: SU833202Title: Growing Alternative Sustainable Buildings: Biocomposite Products from Natural Fiber, Biodegradable and Recyclable Polymer Materials for Load-bearing Construction Components
Investigators: Skerlos, Steven J. , Popp, Sarah Ann , Heininger, Eric C. , Bard, Joshua D. , Cox, Brandon E. , Bayer, Carrie E. , Jelinek, Steven J. , Putalik, Erin S. , Stepowski, John S. , Kerfoot, Katherine S. , Freeman, Jeremy W. , Keoleian, Greg , Zhang, Han , Giles, Harry , Cho, Michelle , Yamamoto, Mitsuyo , Robertson, Richard , Lin, Shangchao , Driver, Stephanie , DiCorcia, Thomas
Institution: University of Michigan
EPA Project Officer: Page, Angela
Phase: II
Project Period: September 1, 2006 through August 31, 2008
Project Amount: $75,000
RFA: P3 Awards: A National Student Design Competition for Sustainability Focusing on People, Prosperity and the Planet - Phase 2 (2006) Recipients Lists
Research Category: Nanotechnology , P3 Challenge Area - Sustainable and Healthy Communities , Pollution Prevention/Sustainable Development , P3 Awards , Sustainable and Healthy Communities
Objective:
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Relationship to people, prosperity and the planet
Buildings (residential and commercial) account for about 40% of the total annual energy consumption in the United States of America; they produce 35% of the total carbon dioxide emissions and attribute 40% of landfill wastes [1, 2]. The building industry is also a large consumer of non-renewable materials and this trend has escalated dramatically over the past century [3]. To this end, we have been addressing sustainability concerns related to building construction materials through an integrative research approach applied to building façade elements, where we can collectively influence design, materials, construction, energy consumption and disposal. We have continued to conduct fundamental research in the design verification and manufacturing phase of this project. The final outcomes for construction are considerable and applicable to a range of building typologies. Although the primary application for the project used developed county applications, we have also considered applications in developing countries. As such there is a proposal under development for other applications, as outlined in the next section. This phase of the project resulted on proposing a range of building products for façade enclosures that holistically embrace all the manufacturing and end use, by adopting various bio-composite and recyclable polymer materials for fenestration applications. The results of our research and manufacturing technology development is demonstrating a variety of possibilities that result in energy efficient light transmitting enclosures that are structurally self supporting. We believe that these new types of enclosure, which we have titled SITUMBRA will create a new wave of interest in their application in energy efficient buildings constructed from sustainable materials [6]. In this report, we summarize how various prototype transparent and translucent load-bearing façade systems based on biocomposite and recyclable materials were investigated structurally, thermally, materially and environmentally and how their performance will contribute towards an improvement in the environment. We have also explored the commercial potential for the SITUMBRA product through market analysis and demonstrate how this produce can be launched into the market place to have a real impact on environmental performance, the creation of new jobs and encouragement of alternative non-food farming and crop by-product recycling to create biocomposite building materials which will serve to preserve the planet’s natural resources, promote agricultural diversity and encourage prosperity for agricultural communities worldwide.
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Relevance and significance to developing or developed world
We have seen significant developments in new lightweight polymer and composite materials in the automotive and aerospace industries [4], [5], and this is becoming an emerging technology in modern building construction. This holds equal relevance in the developing and developed world, as a new future for building materials being agriculturally based, that can be grown anywhere in most climates. Polymer materials are also starting to be made from bio mass in preference to petroleum products. This provides increased accessibility to raw materials that would otherwise be unavailable in some countries, further reducing the amount of energy consumed in transportation, consistent with our ideal 'to grow alternative buildings from renewable agricultural and recyclable sources'. In particular we have been exploring a kenaf based biocomposite as a potentially viable material to be used in the core of the SITUMBRA façade system, by contributing to the overall strength and stiffness while offering enhanced environmentally friendly characteristics. The kenaf crop matures within a year. [7],[8] The yield for Kenaf is in the order of 6-10 tons (new varieties may reach 12 ton) of dry weight per acre per year which is generally 3-5 times greater than the yield for Southern pine trees, which can take from 7 years to reach harvestable size. The kenaf based biocomposite can be readily recycled and extruded for new uses, whereas random glass mat composites and wood based composites such as oriented strand board, particle board, flakeboard and chipboard cannot be recycled. Waste cuts of biocomposite materials from the automobile industry are approximately 30% of the total used in automobiles and discarded in land fill sites. This represents a significant potential source of material supply for alternative products and in particular we are exploring means by which to obtain these waste materials for use in our biocomposite window façade system as well as agriculturally grown sources.
We are currently partnering with a kenaf producer who has had enquires about adopting this biocomposite material for building housing in Angola, with funding from the EU. This is an exciting development, and the project is intended to enable the local population to grow the crop, make the building products and construct housing as a type of local self sustaining industry and a good example of the global applicability of our approach. In addition to facilitating local crop based building products, the kenaf crop can also be recycled with a number of other crops such as potatoes, sorghum and canola, providing necessary agricultural crop rotation and diversity. o Implementation of the P3 Award project as an educational tool
The research investigations were carried out with the aid of collaborating faculty and students, drawn from various disciplines, and some of the students continued from Phase I to Phase II. The faculty team assembled groups of interested students from their own departments of architecture and mechanical engineering to continue with the Phase II project. The students worked in teams representing the main departmental discipline and were primarily drawn from graduate and senior capstone courses in the different departments. Specific courses that were involved with this project include Arch 564 Advanced Materials Structures, ME 450 Senior capstone design course in mechanical engineering, Arch 600 architecture studio and research courses. As part of this research investigation, a key researcher was a PhD student who carried out work in connection with the structural and sustainability evaluation of the window façade system in partial fulfillment of her dissertation. This included impact analysis and testing, structural analysis and testing and refinement of life cycle analysis and associated building energy performance evaluation. The overall student experience has been very positive and they were always excited to be associated with a cutting edge research project and felt a great deal of relevance was exercised by pursuing a real life research project that has such global societal implications.
The process used to infuse the project goals within the curriculum and inter departmental collaborations was based on each team being briefed on their own specialist tasks and how these will contribute towards the goals of the entire project within a set framework of pedagogical goals and expected outcomes. Particular to this project the following sustainability goals were emphasized:
- The key outcomes for the project educationally were to provide a multidisciplinary experience in problem solving on a research project through integrating technology into a broader spectrum of solutions.
- Create a greater awareness of environmental impacts of a particular design solution and learn how a holistic approach to design is an essential and overarching component in problem solving.
- Conduct independent research, within time bound constraints and the importance thereof in validating a design approach and solution.
- Integrate time management and cost constraints into the research process by balancing realistic goals with open ended design innovation solutions.
- Understand the complex linkages between the goal objectives to find sustainable solutions to a design problem, the context and its benefits to society at large.
The students worked in teams representing each of the main departmental disciplines and weekly meetings were held with each team to monitor progress, to ensure adequate overlap, to set new objectives for the following week and to provide tutoring during these weekly contact sessions. During the project period, design reviews were held periodically with the entire team presenting their part of the work, to enable everyone to appreciate their role and contribution to the whole. The different teams were given specific tasks to investigate in the context of the entire project and these were set out as follows:
- Assembly development and building applications
- Structural performance assessment
- Adhesives properties assessment
- Thermal performance assessments
- Prototype thermal testing equipment
- Conduct thermal performance validations
- Market research and develop business strategies for
Summary/Accomplishments (Outputs/Outcomes):
The Phase 2 proposal set out to define a number of limited research objectives to carry the project forward, based on the success of research and design carried out in Phase I through to the development and implementation of the project towards a marketable commodity for the building industry. During the course of Phase 1, a number of further challenges emerged that lay ahead together with important opportunities that became evident. The opportunities and innovation targets were set with the purpose of developing a product for market commercialization.
The scope of investigation included researching areas, necessary for establishing suitable manufacturing processes, installation and performance characteristics as noted in the following specific items:
- improved building environmental performance in terms of energy consumed in running a building
- establish sources of environmentally sustainable materials that will have a direct positive influence in promoting farming practices
- the bio-composite materials proposed are derived from sources that have far greater yield of biomass per acre, hence agriculturally more efficient
- include technologies that are easily transportable globally
- a light weight product that weighs approximately half of its equivalent glass based application
- is able to be constructed in larger panel sizes owing to its lighter weight and manufacturing technologies
- acts as a passive environmental skin that improves overall seasonal thermal performance
- a structure that acts both as a shading device and environmental modulator, providing increased efficiencies related to multiple performance functions
- provide a façade system that is much stronger than conventional façade systems, owing to the integrated composite action of the core and skin materials
- design a suitable manufacturing process what will allow the product to be produced using an automated jointing and assembly system
Conclusions:
The team developed and tested a new product design concept called SITUMBRA, using bio-composite materials to form passive low energy load bearing façades in buildings. They have developed innovative assembly concepts by designing and fabricating a unique CNC manufacturing system which has been filed for a provisional patent at the USPTO. The product was developed towards optimization of the unique environmentally beneficial properties of bio-degradable natural fiber and recyclable materials. Materials have been tested for strength and durability and the product is being prototyped for the building construction industry market. SITUMBRA is set to revolutionize design and construction methods for sustainable buildings and the product is expected to make a significant contribution towards low energy life cycle solutions worldwide.
Streamlined life cycle analysis was carried out and through sensitivity analysis, demonstrated that building use energy is still by far the dominant life cycle phase. Therefore greater emphasis needs to be placed on the beneficial energy saving features of the product and further research needs to be carried out to make the overall energy performance of the window more efficient. Enhanced energy performance features will include panel evacuation to increase the thermal resistance of the panel, optimization of the shading core device to provide a variable shading coefficient which is currently not possible with coated two dimensional traditional windows, enhanced reflected light in the upper region of the window to proved great visible light transmission to reduce on artificial lighting. These features will add to make the window more energy efficient in the future and is the key subject for future research investigation.
Our research into the use of bio based materials has identified great potential for kenaf as a non food crop that can provide the biomass for a biopolymer composite material that has good structural properties (since the bio fibers reinforce the composite material) and suitable durability.
In order to obtain market acceptance of the SITUMBRA product, NFRC[13] certification will need to be obtained. Although the grant greatly assisted in funding materials and equipment that allowed us to carry out preliminary research into the various factors that define the performance of the product, there were insufficient funds available to carry out third party testing to fully certify the product for the marketplace. This has been the subject of further ongoing grant applications to help ensure that compliance evaluations can be completed in the near future to facilitate commercialization.
Journal Articles:
No journal articles submitted with this report: View all 1 publications for this projectSupplemental Keywords:
RFA, Scientific Discipline, Sustainable Industry/Business, POLLUTION PREVENTION, Sustainable Environment, Energy, Technology for Sustainable Environment, Environmental Engineering, energy conservation, polymer composite materials, sustainable development, environmental conscious construction, environmental sustainability, recycled polymers, alternative materials, biocomposite, clean manufacturingProgress and Final Reports:
Original AbstractP3 Phase I:
Growing Alternative Sustainable Buildings: Bio-composite Products from Natural Fiber, Biodegradable and Recyclable Polymer Materials for Load-bearing Construction Components | Final ReportThe perspectives, information and conclusions conveyed in research project abstracts, progress reports, final reports, journal abstracts and journal publications convey the viewpoints of the principal investigator and may not represent the views and policies of ORD and EPA. Conclusions drawn by the principal investigators have not been reviewed by the Agency.