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Low-tech versus high-technological solutions for a pandemic-adaptable society
Published in Sarah Sayce, Sara Wilkinson, Gillian Armstrong, Samantha Organ, Resilient Building Retrofits, 2023
Sara Wilkinson, Samantha Organ
Straw has been used as a building material for centuries for thatch roofing and it is mixed with earth in cob and wattle and daub wall construction. Strawbales were used for building in the 1800s by settlers in Nebraska, US, shortly after the invention of baling machines. Straw is derived from grasses and is a renewable building material since its primary energy input is solar and it can be grown and harvested. Straw, the springy tubular stalk of grasses, such as rice and wheat, which are high in tensile strength, is composed of cellulose, hemicellulose, lignin and silica. As it breaks down in soil, waste straw can be used as mulch. Furthermore, different grasses have somewhat different qualities; for example, rice straw contains a considerable amount of silica, which adds density and resistance to decomposition. A study from Chile compares wheat straw and corn husk bales (as well as EPS) and although there are similar thermal properties, the compressive strength of corn husks exceeds wheat and EPS (Rojas et al., 2019).
The appropriation of the indigenous architecture in northern Brazilian Amazon for the architectural design process with bioclimatic strategies
Published in Mário S. Ming Kong, Maria do Rosário Monteiro, Maria João Pereira Neto, Creating Through Mind and Emotions, 2022
Vinícius Anjos, Anneli Maricielo Celis, Ana Karina Rodrigues
Straw, generally used for roofing, is a renewable material and well used for shading techniques and helps with ventilation and lowering the internal temperature of houses. On the other hand, wood is mainly used in the houses’ structure, which usually has stilt structures for protection from possible flooding.
Straw bale buildings: Experiments, setbacks, and potentials in China
Published in Domenico Lombardo, Ke Wang, Advances in Materials Science and Engineering, 2021
Straw, including crops straw, may be used as building materials. Until 1970s, straw was widely used as building materials in China. After being abandoned for some time, straw is reconsidered as building materials for better use of resources and environmental protection. This paper reviews China's exploration of using crop straw as building materials in the past years, assesses the relatively small success and relatively large setbacks, reveals the underlying factors for this situation, and makes some suggestions on future development.
A review on waste wood reinforced polymer composites and their processing for construction materials
Published in International Journal of Sustainable Engineering, 2023
Katleho Keneuwe Khoaele, Oluwatoyin Joseph Gbadeyan, Viren Chunilall, Bruce Sithole
NFPCs may replace glass in several applications with critical load-carrying capacity (Karthi et al. 2019). In recent years, wood fibre/PE and fibre/PP have been used in construction industry applications for decking, especially in the United States. NFPCs have gained attention in non-structural construction using window and door frames, floor lamination, and wall insulation (Pickering, Efendy, and Le 2016). NFPCs were revealed to have improved mechanical properties compared to wooden laminates in insulating structural boards. The flexural strength of the squeezing cavity cross-section of WPCs with 50% wood floor was studied. The study revealed that NF light-duty sheets could substitute steel and concrete sheet piles. NF to reinforce cement for construction materials is also studied (Birniwa et al. 2023). Ramnath et al. (2014) reported abaca and jute fibre-based composites fit for the construction industry. Jute fibres are used in structural applications such as window panels, ceilings, wall partitions and floors, and mobile or prefabricated buildings (Das 2009). The literature revealed that straw bales in polymer composites are suitable for building construction materials Saravana and Mohan (2010). Bamboo fibre has been used to make structural concrete elements Ghavami (2005) (Kumar et al. 2019).
Investigation on strength behavior of cemented dredged clay with straw at various curing stages
Published in Marine Georesources & Geotechnology, 2023
Fa-Hong Wu, Heng Wang, Miao-Miao Song, Cheng-Chun Qiu, Jia-Xing Weng, En-Wei Wang
Although the straw has been used in building materials in China and other countries for a long time (Bower and Stockman 2001; Binici, Aksogan, and Shah 2005; Zhang and Qiao 2008; De Castrillo, Ioannou, and Philokyprou 2021), the adoption of straws in the improvement of solidified soil and cement composites just began in recent years because straw is economic, easy to get, and eco-friendly (e.g., Chien, Satomi, and Takahashi 2017, 2018; Pandey and Kumar 2020; Jiang et al. 2021). The addition of suitable straw is helpful for improving the mechanical and deformation behavior of solidified soils, such as the shear strength (e.g., Chien, Satomi, and Takahashi 2017; Peng, Wang, and Qi 2021), failure strain (e.g., Li et al. 2018; Lei and Chen 2021), and tensile strength (Lei and Chen 2021; Peng, Wang, and Qi 2021). Meanwhile, the reinforcement of straw varies with the straw content and length and the soil properties (e.g., Wang et al. 2011; Li et al. 2018). In addition, compared to synthetic fibers, the natural straws readily corrode and decompose as they are prone to absorb water, which induces degradation in their mechanical behavior and durability (Wang et al. 2011; Li et al. 2012; Xu et al. 2022). So, it is essential to know how the mechanical behavior of cement-treated dredged clay with straw develops with the curing time for obtaining the best enhancement.
Potential of biofuels production from wheat straw biomass, current achievements and perspectives: a review
Published in Biofuels, 2023
Ahmad Taghizadeh-Alisaraei, Aliasghar Tatari, Majid Khanali, Mohsen Keshavarzi
Agricultural and forestry residues show potential as a tremendous source of biomass available for biofuel production without the need for additional land for cultivation [83]. Wheat straw, the waste from grain production, is an abundant material that is renewable and a low-cost lignocellulosic, which is usually used as animal feed [84]. The wheat straw structure consists of cellulose, hemicellulose, and lignin. Cellulose and hemicelluloses have crystalline and complex amorphous structures, respectively [85]. The production of cellulose, hemicelluloses, and lignin production from wheat wastes, rice, barley, corn, sugarcane, and soybean was 1.376, 848, and 666 Tg/year, respectively [86]. Several types of non-wood lignocellulosic materials have been investigated in agricultural cultivation where wheat straw is the most prominent. Wheat straw is one of the most important agricultural residues [87]. Wheat straw consists of 38.8% cellulose, 39.5% hemicellulose, 17.1% lignin, 1.8% ash content, and 2.2% extractive based on its dry weight [87,88]. The chemical composition of wheat grain and wheat straw as a dry matter (%) has been shown in Table 6. The potential production of bioethanol and methane from some biomass is shown in Table 7 [90].