High-Performance Compressed Straw Board (HPCSB): A New Generation of Building Materials
Funder: The Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council (EPSRC)Duration: July 2019 - June 2021
This project aims to introduce a greatly improved, lightweight variant of compressed straw board (CSB) for the construction industry, strong enough to accommodate structural loads both in tension and under compression. It will exploit a novel concept of industrially efficient and highly selective removal of defects in straw feedstock, using scalable methods and tools. The optimising of the straw feedstock, i.e. removing its defects and improving its surface, will substantially enhance the performance of CSBs by 50%. Up to 10 million tonnes of wheat straw every year is either ploughed back into the land or put to very low-grade use. Our research can bring an end to the waste of this potentially valuable resource.
Outputs
Chougan, M., Ghaffar, SH. and Al-Kheetan, MJ. (2022) 'Graphene-based nano-functional materials for surface modification of wheat straw to enhance the performance of bio-based polylactic acid composites'. Materials Today Sustainability, 21. pp. 1 - 8. ISSN: 2589-2347 Open Access Link
Chougan, M., Ghaffar, SH., Mijowska, E., Kukułka, W. and Sikora, P. (2022) 'High-performance polylactic acid compressed strawboard using pre-treated and functionalised wheat straw'. Industrial Crops and Products, 184. pp. 1 - 12. ISSN: 0926-6690 Open Access Link
Chougan, M., Ghaffar, SH., Sikora, P., Mijowska, E., Kukułka, W. and Stephan, D. (2022) 'Boosting Portland cement-free composite performance via alkali-activation and reinforcement with pre-treated functionalised wheat straw'. Industrial Crops and Products, 178. pp. 114648 - 114648. ISSN: 0926-6690 Open Access Link
Chougan, M., Ghaffar, S., Al-Kheetan, MJ. and Gecevicius, M. (2020) 'Wheat straw pre-treatments using eco-friendly strategies for enhancing the tensile properties of bio-based polylactic acid composites'. Industrial Crops and Products, 155 (1 November 2020). pp. 1 - 10. ISSN: 0926-6690 Open Access Link
Ghaffar, SH. (2019) 'Wheat Straw Bio-Refinery for Agricultural Waste Valorisation'. Green Materials, 8 (2). pp. 1 - 8. ISSN: 2049-1220 Open Access Link