Researchers at the Polytechnic University of Madrid created by cigarette butt thermoacoustic ecological panels that improve acoustics and heating.
Research indicates that over 5 trillion cigarettes are consumed annually across the planet, leaving billions of cigarette butts or cigarette butts thrown into the streets and rivers creating, among other things, a huge ecological problem.
Researchers at the Universidad Politecnica de Madrid have succeeded in creating thermo-acoustic eco-panels with cigarette butts that improve the acoustic and thermal insulation properties of conventional plaster panels!
Cigarette butts and environmental costs
According to a recent study, cigarette butts represent $26 billion in environmental costs. Therefore, being able to give them a new life that allows reducing their impact on environment is a major challenge to achieving a more circular and sustainable economy. A team of researchers from the Polytechnic University of Madrid (UPM) took up this challenge and managed to create a new type of thermoacoustic ecopanel using cigarette butts as a central element for insulation.
The integration of waste
The use of conventional insulating materials is booming due to the increase in thermal and acoustic requirements set by regulations for the construction and rehabilitation of houses. These materials seek to contribute to energy savings and improve the thermal and acoustic life of the residents. However, the increase in its use is not without problems for the environment. For example, industry information company Alimarket warns of an alarming increase in mineral wool waste in recent years. Therefore, the researchers chose to look for new materials that incorporate waste and provide the construction element with better thermal and acoustic performance, incorporating circular economy criteria.
“Our goal was to find a way to improve acoustic absorption in plasterboard while giving a new life to a material that is difficult to destroy and recycle, such as cigarette butts, and if we improve the thermal insulation at the same time, then everything will be much better.” explain the authors who participated in the study.
The researchers started with a conventional plaster matrix into which they embedded one of the tobacco wastes, specifically cigarette filters.
“Cigarette butts undergo a cleaning process before use, are prepared in different forms and mixed with the plaster, while at the same time being incorporated into the finishing surface of the final piece,” explain researchers from the UPM School of Building Engineering.
#soundproofing #cigarette #butts #STEP
