Research Shows Replacement Of Styrofoam In Thermal Panels With Amazon Tree Leaf
Research by USP’s Luiz de Queiroz College of Agriculture (Esalq) seeks to generate sustainable thermal insulation structural panels. These panels come from a natural material that has advantages over conventional thermal insulators, such as styrofoam: biofoam, made from buritizeiro ( Mauritia flexuosa ).
According to Alessandra Silva Batista, a master in the Graduate Program in Forestry Resources at Esalq and author of the research, the product of this biofoam is found in the State of Pará. “The material we use is popularly known as miriti. This nomenclature is attributed by traditional communities and is basically the inner part of the petiole of a palm leaf, which is the buritizeiro. We have the leaf and that part that would be the stem of the leaf, the petiole, which has in its inner part an extremely light material that is widely used by traditional populations to make handicrafts. When we came across this material, we realized its high technological value.”
Miriti serves as a substitute for synthetic thermal insulation due to its low density and high cellulose content and can replace the core layer of structural insulation panels. In addition to being sustainable, this is an important product for the Amazon region, and maintaining its preservation, even with the execution of the project, is one of the objectives, as Alessandra explains: “In the Amazon, the buritizeiro palm itself is widely used, it is a source of income, a source of food, because of the fruit, but today it is used more as a source of income for handicrafts. So, we want to generate more value for the product (…) to be careful to handle this palm tree precisely, since we are producing a sustainable material, it is our wish that the entire production chain of this product is done in a sustainable way”.
Challenges
The product is unprecedented and is still being patented. Because of this, the researchers face some challenges: “We had to start with several analyzes from scratch, to understand the behavior of the material. When we carry out some analyses, mainly in our area of wood technology, we have several standards that we need to follow to carry out the analyses, but there were no standards for this material”, says Alessandra. “We’ve already had conversations with some companies, but we’re still looking for partners to finance this work, together with the industry. Because that is the big difference, it is doing research within the University, but taking it to society, bringing academia and industry together and also generating more value for these communities.”