Development and characterization of viticulture by-products for building applications

This work deals with the manufacture of new bio-based materials for building insulation from viticulture byproducts, and potato starch. Four types of aggregates were used separately: grape pomace, stalks, skins, and crushed stalks. The starch/aggregate mass ratio was set at 20% starch. The samples obtained were characterized in terms of density, thermal conductivity, compressive and bending strength, and sound absorption coefficient. The thermal conductivity of the different composites was found to be ca 0.075 W/(mK). Compression tests showed a high compression resistance from the starch/stalk, grape pomace/starch, and crushed stalk/starch composites. The high sound absorption coefficient indicated that these materials can be use as sound absorbers, especially the starch/grape pomace composite with a measured absorption coefficient of 0.42 for a low thickness of 20 mm only. Overall, grape by-products/starch composites seem to have good thermal, mechanical, and acoustic performance for use as insulation materials in public building construction.