Comparative study of thermal insulation boards from leaf and bark fibres of camel’s foot ( Piliostigma thonningii L.)

Plants and agricultural wastes with high degrees of fibrous content in form of lignocellulose compounds have been identified as main ingredient in composites, making them suitable for manufacturing of insulation boards and panels. Thus, several researches have succeeded in using these plants and agro waste fibres in developing renewable and environmentally friendly thermal insulation products. The aim of this study was to compare the performance of insulation boards made from leave and bark fibres of Pilios tigma thonningii L.in terms of density, water absorption, apparent thermal conductivity, specific heat and thermal diffusivity. The leave and the bark fibres were prepared in form of squared boards of 200 mm x 200 mm and thickness of 20 mm using natural ru bber latex as a binder. The fibre to binder ratio was varied with a composition of 1:1, 1:2, 1:3 and 1:4. The LFB recorded densities between 528.6 kg/m 3 and 538.4 kg/m3 while in the BFB the densities are between 558.3 kg/m3 and 711.8 kg/m3 at various compositions. The Percentage water absorption for the LFB is between 36.51% and 12.03% while the BFB is between 25.02% and 13.23%. Similarly, the apparent thermal conductivity values for LFB are between 0.032096 W/mK and 0.040855 W/mK while that of the BFB are between 0.039439 W/mK and 0.043406 W/mK. The specific heat values of the LFB are between 2901.88 J/kg.K and 3656.48 J/kg.K and that of the BFB are between 2044.46 J/kg.K and 2512.61 J/kg.K while the thermal diffusivity is between 2.05E-8m2/s and 8.07E-9m2/s for the LFB and 1.57E-8m2/s to 2.68E-8m2/s for BFB. The boards recorded thermal properties that are comparable to those of the commercially available products with LFB performing consistently better than the BFB. Key words: Thermal Insulation, Leave fibres, Bark fibres, apparent thermal conductivity, Lignocellulose compounds, Fibrous conten