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AN EXAMPLE OF FEASIBILITY STUDY OF ECO MATERIALS PRODUCTION

CHAIN AND BIO-BASED PRODUCTS FOR ECO-CONSTRUCTION/RENOVATION
IN THE NAMED GREATER REGION (BELGIUM, FRANCE, LUX....

Conference Paper · May 2015

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 International Conference on Materials & Energy / May 19-22, 2015, Tetouan, Morocco

Proceedings of ICOME’15
“Paper 294”

PAPER 294

AN EXAMPLE OF FEASIBILITY STUDY OF ECO MATERIALS PRODUCTION

CHAIN AND BIO-BASED PRODUCTS FOR ECO-CONSTRUCTION/RENOVATION
IN THE NAMED GREAT REGION (BELGIUM, FRANCE, LUXEMBOURG)

Faiza MNASRI 1 *, Mohammed EL GANAOUI 1 , Mourad KHELIFA 2 , Slimane GABSI 3

1
Lorraine University, Longwy Laboratory of Energy / LERMAB, Henri IUT Poincaré Longwy, 186 rue
de Lorraine 54400 Cosnes et Romain, France
2
Laboratory of studies and research on the wood material, Lorraine University National School of
Technology and timber industries (ENSTIB)
3
Environment Research Unit, Catalysis and Process Analysis, National School of Engineers of Gabes,

*Corresponding author: Email: faiza.mnasri@univ-lorraine.fr

ABSTRACT The analysis of these types of materials has led us to

The energy consumption of today and the
concept of thermal housing comfort, has created
a critical issue that allows the development of
eco materials, as a social, economical and
environmental solution. However, think back to
these demands requires the establishment of local
industrial systems and creating harmony between
industrialization and local development and
craftsmanship. In this context a methodology and an
analysis process to identify a die materials in the
named Greater Region which is a delimiting three
borders between Belgium, France and Luxembourg
has been followed. Thus an European INTERREG
project called ECOTRANFAIRE was lunched to
resume the needs of cold regions.
This is an example of a joint investigation
was conducted in three trans-boundary countries,
which allowing work together artisans, socio
economists and researchers to propose practical
solutions and environmentally friendly. Thus, a state
of place of eco materials market in the sorting
countries was studied and a different families of
materials were examined according to various
criteria to be proposed as a solution of energy
efficiency of building in the cross border context.
identify seven eco promising materials in this
Region. The characteristics and the thermal
performance of these materials will be described in
this work as well their hygrothermal responses by
the MBV test will be established.
NOMENCLATURE
A: exchange surface (m²)
MBV: Moisture Buffer Value
∆m : mass variation during the absorption phase /
desorption (g);
HRhigh
: high relative humidity (%)
HRlow : Low relative humidity (%)
INTRODUCTION
The notion of thermal comfort in the home has
become a point of study and ambition for
professionals and occupants. This notion often
depends to the nature of the materials of the
building envelope [1]. In cold regions, the need to
keep the heat inside the house brought him to search
the most pertinent materials that can limit the
maximum contact surfaces of the envelope with its
external environment.
In general, in eco-construction / renovation, a
particular attention is given to the insulation
composite of vegetable fibers, essential to the
thermally and ecological character [2]. The
optimization of the thermal properties of such
materials is a major industrial issue and requires
methods for measuring properties and
characterization of structure [3]. Indeed, the
incorporation of vegetable fibers (wood, lin, hemp) in
the thermoplastic or thermosetting material is an
industrial and commercialized concept [4]. Cohesion
and creating a good adhesion between the natural
fiber and the matrix can be a complex problem for
manufacturing of the composite [5]. Thus, it is
necessary to know the intrinsic properties of
vegetable fibers to ensure the reliability of composite
structures based of these fibers.
The objective pursued in this work was to develop a
methodology for characterizing a several eco-
materials selected as candidates materials for the
Greater Region in the context of the
ECOTRANSFAIRE project [6]. This project is an
Interreg IVA project focused on eco-renovation and
eco-building in the Lorraine region, the Walloon
region of Belgium and the Grand Duchy of
Luxembourg. Its aim is to identify materials of
potential interest for actors (Belgian, French and
Luxembourg) in the construction sector. And to
develop a sustainable socio-economic chain of
innovative materials on the Greater Region.
For this reason, a theoretical concept necessary for
understanding of this study have been established in
this work. It consist of the selection of eco-materials
with interesting local development potential, and
analyze precisely those products in the form of
sheets of different materials selected for the
"insulation category." The last part of this work will
compare these cards made in order to bring out the
most likely materials for the creation of a local chain.
PROJECT ECOTRANSFAIRE
OBJECTIVE AND LOCALIZATION OF
PROJECT
This work involves the project "ECOTRANSFAIRE"
Interreg IV A Greater Region, which has as its main
objective the creation of a trans-boundary
cooperation Pole in eco-renovation and sustainable
building, in a part of the Greater Region, defined by
the three municipalities annotated on map below (see
Figure 1):
Figure 1: geographical scope concerned by the
project ECOTRANSFAIRE
THE GREAT REGION
The region of Lorraine has an exceptional position
at the intersection of great multimodal pathways of
communication and it occupies a privileged
geographical position on the borders of Belgium, the
Grand Duchy of Luxembourg and Germany.
Whence the assembly of five regions to build during
the late 1960 the great region, which compound of :
- Rhineland-Palatinate: one component of the
sixteen federal states of Germany.
- Grand Duchy of Luxembourg.
- Saarland : A Land of Germany.
- Wallonia: a region in Belgium.
- Lorraine: region in the north-east France
ECOTRANSFAIRE concerns more specifically
the south of the province of Belgium, the entire
Grand Duchy of Luxembourg and the French
Lorraine. Among the operational objectives of this
great region are: to make Lorraine the heart of a
European valley of materials and energy, dynamiting
a channels for excellence and promote innovative
approaches of attractiveness in the regional
planning.
PROCESS OF IDENTIFYING ECO-
MATERIALS WITH POTENTIAL FOR
DEVELOPMENT IN THE LOCAL
CONSTRUCTION MARKET:
A process has been defined and followed in order to
describe the methodology of identifying an eco-
material chain. Four steps have been indispensable
to this work:
- Selection of eco-materials which are analyzed by
category of building materials.
- Study of eco-materials of each category by the
development of technical data sheets.
-Assigning an analytical note for each material in
each category.
- Selection of eco-materials that could be developed
on the local construction market.
The first step to achieve in this work involved to
select eco-materials that can be analyzed in this
context. The purpose was to retain a maximum of 50
eco-materials that could potentially be developed on
a local market.
In order, to obtain an own execution of this task,
the work was divided into several phases. The first
was a preliminary screening to remove material
redundancies. This was followed by a reorganization
and reformulation of different types of materials. At
this point, a first selection was done for retaining a
total of 195 materials. After identifying of these 195
likely materials, and in order to prune this list in
more depth: a creation of an online survey among the
professionals of (Belgian, French and Luxembourg)
in the sector of construction .
The questionnaire begins with an explanatory note
on the functioning and purpose of the survey. For
each material, the answering can choose between five
possible answers:
- "Very interesting";
- "Interesting";
- "Not interesting";
- "Off topic";
- "No idea"
For the treatment of the results, a classic method of
analysis was proposed: for all materials, averages
were calculated using the values (3,2,1,0,/)
respectively to the answers (Very interesting,
interesting, interesting, off-topic, no idea) to identify
materials to keep. The figure below shows the result
retained by this investigation.
Figure 2: Survey Results
Finally, in a seminair which had made in campus
Environment Arlon, on a theme "Using eco-
materials in construction, advances and perspectives
in the Greater Region". With the participation of the
University of the Greater Region, intermatGR,
ECOTRANSFAIRE, University of Liege, there was
a final selection of seven materials of the Greater
Area, where two are on the category of structure and
five on the category of insulation:
- Hemp Concrete (structure category)
- Hemp fibers (insulation category)
- Wood fibers (insulation category)
- Ecological Cement (structure category)
- Panels recycled fiber (insulation category)
- Panels wood chips (insulation category)
- Cellulose wadding (insulation category)
In the remainder of this work, we are only
interested to the category of insulation.
HYGROTHERMAL STUDY
The objectives of this study, is to compare the list of
materials selected in order to know their
hygrothermal behavior. This behavior is associated
to water and thermal properties of materials
implemented [7]. The hydric characterization may
be based on the use of steady-state measurements:
sorption isotherms and vapor permeability, or
measures under dynamic conditions (such as
measuring MBV : moisture buffer value). In this
case, the moisture buffer value is measured through
tests in dynamic mode with samples of the category
of insulation.
METHOD OF CHARACTERIZATION
Moisture buffer value characterizes the ability of
material, to moderate the variations of relative
humidity of the surrounding air. Thus, the moisture
buffer value is defined by the following expression:
∆m
MBV =
A( HRhigh − HRlow )
Where: ∆m is the mass variation during the
absorption phase / desorption (g);
A: The exchange surface (m²)
HRhigh / HRlow
:represent the high and low
relative humidities in the cycle (%)
The principle of the test protocol is associated to
submit the samples to cycles daily of relative
humidities. Several pairs of relative humidity can be
considered. The reference torque is 75% RH / 33%
RH with an exposure time of 8 hours absorption
and16 hours desorption. Then the mass sample
tracking determines the MBV of materials.
The classification of materials was proposed by the
Project Nordtest, it shows in the following figure [8]

Figure 4: Samples of the materials of the insulation

category

They are all isolated on 5 faces with aluminum

scotch in order to let moisture move vertically.
The samples were cut according to balance capacity
(210 grams accuracy 0.01 gram) and their surface
density. This table allows us to know the maximum
size of the samples.

Figure 3: Classification of moisture buffer values Materials mass(kg) MSKG/(M2)

(MBV) by Nordtest Project. hemp fibers 0,01803 2,86
Wood fibers 0,02115 3,36
The test bench used in this study, consists of a
Cellulose wadding 0,02885 4,58
climatic chamber Memmert HCP in which the
temperature can be regulated between 30 and 90 °C Panels of recyles 0,01673 2,07
and relative humidity between 30 and 95%. These textile
tests are performed at 40 °C. Wood panels chips: 0,17754 2,82
The mass tracking of samples is based on a weighing IBS -Aku
during the absorption phase and a weighing during Table1: mass of samples
the desorption phase. Theses cycles are repeated for
two weeks.
MOISTURE BUFFER VALUE (MBV):
MATERIALS AND SAMPLES The ability of a material to absorb or release
The study is performed with samples of five several moisture is sometimes called "buffer capacity
materials, which represent the candidate materials of moisture." It is a function of permeability and the
the insulation category in the Greater Region. in this sorption capacity of the material. This size is useful,
case those materials tested are as follows: (hemp for example, during the design and control of a
fibers , Wood fibers, Cellulose wadding, Panels of passive indoor climate or during the study of the
recyles textile, Wood panels chips: IBS -Aku). The resistance of a building to interstitial condensation.
follwing figure represents theses differnt samples:
 ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
http://www.ecotransfaire.eu/
http://www.isolhabitat.be
REFERENCES
Figure 5: MBV of the materials tested
For a list of the materials tested, moisture buffer
value measured by the method Nordtest project
shows that this category has a high specific property.
Almost all materials have a good moisture regulator,
except textile-Panel Recycles which has a less
capacity less MBV than others materials. The panels
of the fibers and wood chips are the best hydric-
regulators which shows the performance of the
wooden material into the insulation.
CONCLUSION
This work represents an example of feasibility of
eco-materials production chain and bio-based
materials for eco-construction/renovation in the
named Great Region. An investigation was
conducted in three trans-boundary countries,
which allowing propose practical process in order to
identify the candidates materials in this region . The
analysis of these types of materials has led us to
named Great Region. An investigation was
conducted in three trans-boundary countries,
which allowing propose practical process in order to
identify the candidates materials in this region . The
analysis of these types of materials has led us to
identify seven eco promising materials in this
Region. The list of the category has been treated by
the MBV test in order to determine the potential
hydric of materials insulation. The panels of the
fibers and wood chips are the best hydric regulators
which shows the performance of the wooden material
into the insulation
View publication stats
I would like to thank:
-ECOTRANSFAIRE Project:
-Company ISOLHABITAT :
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température des structures et de l'air
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wall (without and with coating), In: 2nd
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materials, report BYG DTU R-126; 2005.
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