SUPERVISOR: Wolfgang GINDL-ALTMUTTER

PROJECT ASSIGNED TO: María BUSQUETS FERRER

Currently climate change is a very important issue that has to be addressed in a more thoughtful way, on top of that, the energy demand is increasing every year and this, contributes significantly to continue using non-renewable ways of producing energy, in order to be able to fulfil it. Developing high performance thermal insulation materials, for example with anisotropic thermal properties, made from environmentally friendly resources, could be one important aspect that could help reducing our energy demand, and therefore the environmental impact of its production. Wood and bark could be the raw materials used to develop this new kind of insulators.
Initially poplar wood and bark would be used to obtain a cellulose structure, by different extracting and drying methods. The resulting samples would be optimized and characterized, afterwards, in order to obtain a new thermal insulation material from renewable sources.