Nonwoven textile waste added with PCM for building applications

Due to the overall improvement of living standards and considering the priority to reduce the energy consumption, the adoption of efficient strategies, mainly in the building area is mandatory. In fact, the construction sector can be considered as one of the key field essential for the sustainability, due to the diversity of components and their life cycles. Reuse strategies may play an essential role in reducing the environmental impact of building processes. Within this framework, the reuse of textile waste to produce insulating materials represents one of the biggest opportunities for the promotion of a circular economy. It contributes significantly to improve the environmental sustainability reusing a waste as new raw matter involved to achieve high energy efficient buildings. This paper provides the results of an experimental campaign performed using wool waste derived from the industrial disposal of fabrics matched with phase change materials (PCMs) used in order to enhance the thermal mass of the final products. Physical and thermal parameters were measured in order to demonstrate the good performances of the textile materials and the essential role played by PCMs in shifting heat waves and reduce surface temperatures. Furthermore, DesignBuilder software was used to assess the energy consumption of a mobile shelter type structure under three different climatic scenarios. A comparison between the experimented materials and other solutions, currently available in the market, highlighted a significant reduction in energy consumption when adopting the materials under test.