Final Report Summary - BRIMEE (Cost-effective and sustainable Bio-Renewable Indoor Materials with high potential for customisation and creative design in Energy Efficient buildings)
Executive Summary:
The challenge of today lies in the accomplishment of sustainable and low-energy buildings, which can combine at the same time the thermal insulation properties with healthy, comfortable, accessible and safe indoor environment. The main aim of the BRIMEE project is therefore to combine the development of better performing insulation materials for improving buildings energy performance and having as final overall objective a significant reduction of buildings operational energy, in combination with the capability not to emit harmful substances and to act as an absorber for indoor pollutants.
The innovation is based on a Nano-Crystalline Cellulose (NCC) based foam, strengthened with natural derived resins, providing mechanical strength and lightweight performances. Thanks to advanced processing developed and refined within the project, the NCC material can be profitably extracted from the waste streams of the pulp and paper industry, therefore increasing the sustainability of the end product, at no compromise on its performances.
Although the BRIMEE product family is applicable for the envelope and interior partitions of both new and existing buildings, most of the impact and the largest market is represented by buildings built before 1975 and requiring retrofitting. This is considered the initial market to be addressed, in line with EU priorities and recent action plans and directives, and confirming the approach to increase the value of building stock, improving the quality of life for the inhabitants. The final aim of the project is therefore to produce panels that can be well acceptable from building designers, architects, and the end users, thanks to their joint active involvement into the project, concurring to the development of a product representing a real marketable solution for the end users.
The project is run thanks to a strategically European-spread consortium, involving the active cooperation of materials scientists, developers and transformers, firms expert in the development of advanced built environment solutions, designers and architects, cooperating together under the coordination of RINA Consulting, with the common goal of developing innovation that can be effectively implemented into real scale, marketable products representing a success solution for the insulation and air quality a European level.
Project Context and Objectives:
In line with the need, felt by the inhabitants of either new construction or existing buildings, to improve the performances of the thermal and noise insulation without compromising on the quality of the air, more and more attention is paid to the accomplishment of sustainable and low-energy buildings, which can combine at the same time thermal insulation properties with a healthy, comfortable, accessible and safe indoor environment. Indeed the indoor environment is becoming an issue as in highly sealed energy efficient buildings a number of problems arise such as those related to SBS (Sick Building Syndrome). Consequently, the path towards future low-energy use, or even energy autonomous or energy-positive buildings, has to be followed without running the risk of introducing a negative impact on human health.
In this context, beside good and consistent thermal and acoustic performance over time, a high performance and marketable insulation material should possess additional features: be self-extinguishing, not degradable, unshrinkable or non-settling, safe during handling and installation, low cost, and should not pollute the indoor building environment, while having a low embodied energy. The BRIMEE project aims exactly at developing materials that can combine the different benefits of the current state of the art insulation materials, combining the insulation (thermal and noise barrier effects) with a whole bio-based origin, leading to a final material and product that is healthy and effective. In particular, BRIMEE project focuses on the development of a novel class of insulating materials, based on renewable porous framework constituted of a 3D network of nano cellulose reinforced with natural derived resin. The raw materials can be derived from non-food biomasses, wood residuals and slurries from wastewater treatment systems, as the intended process is flexible in input. However, the preferred source will be pulp & paper industry waste with the final purpose to achieving marketable products and industrial production methods based on advanced nanomaterials derived from renewable resources. Additionally, the expanded materials that have been developed are intended as the core of innovative composite panels, in that they have sound structural performances: this witness for an entirely new method of designing the panels, and new types of applications and structural performances that can be demanded, therefore extending the potential for implementation.
More in details, the main objective of BRIMEE project is the development of a new generation of insulation materials and products, to improve buildings energy performance without emitting harmful substances and acting as an absorber for indoor pollutants. The material solutions developed within BRIMEE are based on a Nano-Cristalline Cellulose (NCC) based foam, strengthened with a bio-based resins which provides mechanical strength and lightweight performances. Functional characterization to the Cellulose basis is exploited to confer to the material additional functionalities, such as fragrance release, anti-bacteria or IR radiation reflectance. Thanks to an advanced processing pioneered by our partners, the NCC material can be profitably extracted from the waste streams of the pulp and paper industry, readily available across EU-27 and being today an environmental issue for paper mills.
The key benefits of the BRIMEE product/process can be synthesized in the following:
- Use of renewable materials: NCC extracted from renewable, non food cellulose sources, or profitably extracted from wastes of the paper industry, bonded via natural based resins;
- Functionalization with natural derived compounds, capable of capturing the polluting elements, transforming the bulk of insulating materials from emitters of noxious chemicals into a sink, absorbing them throughout their life cycle;
- Low-temperature process, involving water and a totally closed loop solvent and acid exchange loop, ensuring limited environmental impact. Thanks to the reclamation of waste streams, the overall environmental impact can be considered as positive, accounting limited disposal.
BRIMEE NCC foam panels are suitable to be applied within three fully operational components:
- Outer insulation, to be applied for the building external envelope;
- Internal insulation, to be applied on the internal surface of the envelope;
- Internal partition panels.
Such differentiated applications and products have been tailored and designed on purpose having in mind the final use conditions, and the differentiated functionalities to be imparted.
In addition, the project has demonstrated the innovation through three demo buildings located in different climatic zones, Spain, Czech Republic and Italy.
Project Results:
The overall results and achievements of the BRIMEE project are aligned with the expectations, and according to the 48 Months term, are relevant for the scientific and technological development of the materials and processing, testing of the performances and design indications finalized to the achievement of the relevant functionalities. Moreover, such technical results are coupled with transversal enabling results, permitting to organize the work in terms of exploitation, in particular assigning responsibilities and methods for exploitation to each of the results deemed valid for exploitation, to address the standards and the typical features and barriers in the built environment, and to control the flows of information towards the dissemination activities, maximising the benefits of the awareness generated in the community of the Energy Efficiency in buildings, at no risks for unwanted leakage of knowledge. The main results achieved within the project are summarised in the following.
S&T Results – Conceptual Design
The panels are conceptually developed and the ideas on the different types of applications, end use, functionalities (among the ones developed within the project) are assessed. The end applications (flooring, roofing, partitions, internal or external insulation) influence on the features and specifications are addressed, as well as the foam benefits on the overall composite structure.
In particular, the use of the NCC foam panels has been described as external insulation, internal insulation and partitions. In all these uses, the key areas that the CE market products must consider are as follows:
- Mechanical Resistance and Stability;
- Safety in case of fire;
- Hygiene, health and the environment;
- Safety and accessibility in use;
- Protection against noise
- Energy economy and heat retention;
- Sustainable use of natural resources.
S&T Results – Panel Design
The panels are developed and the main features of the panel declined on the application are provided. The design is based on modelling and simulation results, as well as on the results of the testing that steer the aimed final performances in use conditions. The design is as well influenced on the expected production capacities, leading to the development of smaller panels, easier to handle and assemble in the end applications, compromising the benefits of larger panels with a higher flexibility and ease of design.
In particular, two different solutions for the application of NCC foam panels within internal partition walls have been developed with different technical characteristics in terms of components and thermo-structural behaviour, investigated through CAE, energy, thermal and structural modelling. 3D CAD libraries for both the identified alternative options have been prepared.
NCC foam material can be applied as panels suitable for three fully operational components: internal and external insulation as well as internal partition. Detailed procedures for the new eco-innovative panels installation, customised for the three different applications, have been developed. In case of external walls application, two different approaches have been selected for NCC foam panels installation, namely ventilate facades and cavity walls.
S&T Results – Material Development
The recipe for the foamed NCC core material is deployed and formalized. The production routine implemented, permitting to optimize the microstructure and reducing the energy consumption. The formulation is optimized, to maximize the use of renewable and natural derived materials, achieving at the same time good mechanical performances. A further action of upscaling has been performed, the materials are currently available foamed in A2 dimensions (40 x 60 x 1 cm).
More in details, NCC foam was obtained through controlled freezing of the NCC material followed by solvent exchange of NCC suspensions in water. Foam formulations, and foam formation process were improved during the project, leading to increased strength and significantly decreased foam costs. The final formula for NCC foams contains 90% pulp and xyloglucan and 10% NCC. The formulas is "whipped" and frozen at only -20°C, following by solvent exchange with ethanol and drying. The resulted virgin and isotropic foams have density of 30-40 Kg/m3, good mechanical performance, and are also flexible and durable.
S&T Results – Processing Development
In parallel with the development of the material, the recipe is formalized and established also for the process steps, the raw materials and the intermediates and processing stuff to achieve the products. The following upscaling steps are performed thanks to the approach, finalized to minimizing the energy expenditure and to confine in a narrow space the dangerous steps involving flammable solvents. Additionally, the overall sustainability is granted thanks to the programme for recovering the solvents or reagents and supporting therefore the generation of an overall sustainable process concept. The design of the up-scaled production went in two directions: a pilot line, to demonstrate the batch production of larger (A2) samples, and a longer term, pilot industrial line, oriented to respect the 100 kg/day of NCC foam panels, characterized by a higher level of automation. Such a system has been conceived and designed, yet the costs for its integration and prototyping lay well beyond the project financial capabilities.
More in details, the pilot line able to produce 8 NCC foam panels per day in the form of sheets at dimensions of 0.6 m x 0.4 m x 0.01 m was set up and tested. The NCC foaming line can mainly be subdivided in the following four steps:
- Mixing and foaming: The NCC suspension, pulp suspension (for reducing the required portion of comparatively expensive NCC) and additives as raw materials are mixed in a mixer until a liquid foam of the desired density is obtained.
- Freezing: The foam is poured into moulds of a desired shape and frozen at -20 °C.
- Solvent exchange: In a two-stage procedure, the water enclosed in the frozen foam is removed by using ethanol as solvent.
- Drying: In an oven the residual water and the solvent used are removed leaving a solid, dry cellulosic foam.
In order to further analyse the industrial potential of the innovative insulating material, a conceptual design related to a foaming plant with a capacity of 100 kg/day of material has been developed, customised to increase the plant automation level.
S&T Results – Testing
The material samples have been made available to the laboratories under the specific features and dimensions to permit the validation of the different fields of performances, as required by the project ambitious testing programme. Due to the difficulties in materials availability, the priority has been given to the tests providing a basis to the applicability of the materials in the building sector and the specific requirements as provided by the BRIMEE project. Therefore, materials fire resistance, vapour emissions in air, density and the mechanical performances have been investigated with priority as the basic features. Results have provided useful feedbacks to the materials surface functionalization, and are addressing the question on the methods to improve the final performances at sustainable application methods. Main results are summarised in the following.
The materials developed prove to perform well in terms of thermal conductivity and sound absorption. In particular, the NCC foam materials, with a thermal conductivity of around
0.035-0.041 W/mK, results classifiable as insulation material. Performances are in fact in the range of products available on the market. Moreover, the foam results suitable as sound absorber in the high frequency region. Low frequency absorption cannot be achieved, mainly due to the low density.
Considering the chemical emissions, the NCC white flexible foam material is suitable for indoor use from the indoor air quality (IAQ) point of view. This positive result is achieved thanks to the strong efforts of all the BRIMEE consortium, during the course of the project, seeking adequate composition and manufacturing process, resulting in a material not emitting harmful substances. In particular, this result is achieved avoiding the crosslinking steps, and selecting additives supporting the suppression of flame, not containing volatile or bromine compounds. The evaluation was exemplary carried out according to the German AgBB scheme based on the LCI-concept (AgBB – Committee for health-related evaluation of construction products; LCI – Lowest Concentration of Interest).
With reference to the fire resistance properties, the tests performed on the different NCC foam materials show that the behaviour of the material is drastically affected when the resin infiltration is not performed. In effect, only the black NCC foam material achieved the fire resistance class E, required for building applications (conservative value, due to the small sample dimensions: full scale tests on products cannot be performed). Other types of additives and fire retardants need to be identified in the future for granting better performances for the NCC white foam.
Water absorption and vapour transmission tests are performed over various untreated and waterproof treated NCC foam materials. Considering water absorption, based on the results obtained, it can be concluded that it is highly essential to modify the extremely high hydrophilic nature of the untreated NCC foam materials by either applying various thermal and/or chemical treatment or by successfully tuning their nature. The achieved results show substantial improvement with respect to their water absorption. Moreover, two options that can be used to implement further improvement of the hydrophilic nature of NCC foam materials, are identified.
- Option 1 - Modification of the hydrophilic nature of initial NCC foam materials by:
a. Applying various treatments (thermal, chemical)
b. Altering the nature of the NCC foam (changing the surface topology and chemistry)
- Option 2 - Further modification and improvement of the waterproof agent by:
a. Depositing various combined nanoparticle on NCC foam surface (TiO2-ZnO-SiO2 multicomponent nanoparticle formulation)
b. Using another nanoparticle synthesis method
Considering the vapour transmission, the materials show a high moisture transfer in tests with a reduction in the rate of water vapour transmission through the material in case of coated NCC foam materials. However, the vapour permeability of the material is not in itself a concern, in fact breathing insulation is required in building systems.
In conclusion, positive testing results are achieved in all the tested characteristics, although it is not possible to obtain one single material resuming all the positive achievements and performances sought. In particular, the NCC foam materials result to have good performances in terms of thermal insulation, sound absorption and chemical emissions, limited performances are achieved in terms of fire resistance and water absorption. In order to overcome such limits, guidelines and solutions are identified as starting points for future development of NCC foam materials able to fulfil all the required properties and to be successfully implemented as a constituent in the building industry.
S&T Results – Demonstrators
Installation and monitoring activities in the three selected demo sites, Brno (Czech Republic), Bergamo (Italy) and Seville (Spain) have been performed, permitting the testing of the results under real working conditions. A short description of the three demonstrators and the main results achieved are summarised in the following.
Czech Republic Demo
Brno, located in the southeast of landlocked Czech Republic, has an oceanic/humid continental climate, characterised by hot summer and cold winter temperatures. Typically, daily mean winter temperatures are ~-2.5°C and daily mean summer temperatures are ~19°C. A historic 4 storey building, built at the turn of the 19th/20th century is the location for the Brno demonstration project. This UNESCO protected building is typical of the time, with 3.5 meter ceilings, 60 cm load bearing walls, 30 cm partition walls and no out of inner insulation. Since UNESCO protected and due to façade regulations, its historical appearance has not to be modified with a retrofitting intervention. In particular, due to these restrictions and the necessity of a public authorization to alter external facades, the demonstration panels, both NCC foam and mineral wool panels, have been applied to internal parts of the walls. The actual site of this demonstration project is on the second floor on the exposed walls of the end of terrace building.
A summary of the Brno demo site performances assessment is provided in the following:
- Internal air temperature readings at both the NCC foam and mineral wool installations appear to be influenced more by factors other than external air temperature (e.g. central heating). This indicates a good thermal performance against the influences of cooling and over-heating by outside temperature changes.
- Heat flux values are greater both on the internal surface and behind the insulation panel in the mineral wool installation. Such findings show a greater heat loss from mineral wool insulation than from NCC foam.
- Relative humidity at the surface measurement points are lower in the NCC installation, indicating the need for a greater temperature drop than the one required in the mineral wool installation before the dew-point is reached.
- Unexpected results in the relationship between RH and surface temperature are shown in both NCC foam and mineral wool installations suggesting NCC foam does not behave any different to other insulation materials. Further analysis here is needed before conclusions can be made on the cause of this behavior.
- In the oceanic/humid continental climate NCC foam insulation performs better the mineral wool; particularly with regards to heat loss and potential condensation.
Italian Demo
The city of Bergamo, located in the Lombardy region of northern Italy, experiences a humid subtropical climate characterised by daily mean temperatures ranging between ~2.7°C in the winter and ~22.8°C in the summer. Unlike much of Italy, that experiences dry summer weather, this region experiences summers often wetter than the winters. An extension to a 1970s single floor office building comprising of three storeys that join to the original traditionally build office at the ground floor forms the location of this demonstration site. In particular, a small office room on the ground floor serves as the specific location for installation of both NCC foam and mineral wool panels.
A summary of the Bergamo demo site performances assessment is provided in the following:
- Both insulation materials contribute to comfortable internal air temperatures despite some considerable diurnal and seasonal variability in external air temperatures.
- Measured positive heat flux values behind the insulation materials are larger in the mineral wool installation, indicating greater heat transfers out of the building. There is no significant difference in measured heat flux at the internal surfaces during the warmer months, however, in the colder months the HFPi in the NCC foam installation is more positive than the equivalent mineral wool value. combined with the lower HFPb value this suggests the NCC foam retains heat and prevents it’s loss through the walls behind and into the outside air.
- Relative humidity measurements for mineral wool are consistently greater than, or equal to, NCC foam relative humidity values despite surface temperatures remaining within 1°C of the corresponding NCC foam measurement. Combined with lower measured internal air temperature at mineral wool, this suggests the dew point will be more easily reached than in the NCC foam installation.
- All factors remain within ranges for good occupant health and comfort through both colder and warmer transitional months.
- Data indicates NCC foam to perform as well as alternative insulation materials in the humid subtropical climate experienced in Bergamo.
Spanish Demo
Located in the Andalusia region of southern Spain, Seville experiences a subtropical Mediterranean climate with wet winters and drier summers. Daily mean temperatures reach ~28°C in the summer and ~11°C in the winter months. The demo site consists of a prefabricated module manufactured in Dragados factory in Las Cabezas de San Juan. This structure is in turn a demonstration module for the construction of a school in Andalusia. In this scenario, the BRIMEE NCC panels are used to replace a section of mineral wool as insulating core of glass fibre reinforced concrete (GRC) panels.
A summary of the Seville demo site performances assessment is provided in the following:
- The set-up has suffered from problems with the sensing equipment manifesting themselves in anomalous spikes or periods of no measurement. Addressing these issues and having a longer pilot period at this site would allow a better analysis of NCC foam performances compared to mineral wool.
- Surface relative humidity results for both NCC foam and mineral wool remain within a range considered to be comfortable for occupants and below values that could cause concern for condensations or mould growth.
- Heat flux measurements show that daytime fluxes from the outside to the inside are greater than the losses of heat that occur during the night. These significant variations in the heat flux reflect the big changes in internal and external air temperatures and suggest that both insulation materials react to temperature range maintaining a comfortable indoor temperature.
- In the subtropical Mediterranean climate of Seville NCC performs as well as mineral wool with regards to thermal performance and eventual occupants health issues and condensation phenomena.
S&T Results – Business Model
The whole consortium has set up a strategy for developing a business model acting as a single value-chain, leveraging on the key advantages of the innovative materials/products, and working to reduce the limitations so far identified, almost all associated to the costs for the new materials. In particular, two Business Models, tailored for the BRIMEE NCC foam and eco-innovative panels, have been designed in accordance with partners wishes. In particular, Business Model 1 (BM1) is focused on the “Customized foam material for BRIMEE applications” (KER #1), including the “Process for Foam Integration into panel” (KER #2) and the Business Model 2 (BM2) focused on “Panels Design implementing BRIMEE foam” (KER #3), including also KER #4 and KER #5. The two different Business Models have been analysed through the Business Model Canvas methodology.
Potential Impact:
The BRIMEE project activities at the Month 48 concluded in accordance to the expectations. Each result achieved is expecting to generate real impact for the partners, and returns in terms of applied knowledge: materials, products, real implementation and application of the materials under tested operating conditions. The key result is the demonstration of the industrial feasibility and sustainability of an insulation panel that is not only efficient in terms of thermal and sound barrier capacity, but at the same time can be implemented in the built environment with good acceptance on the end users and at no negative impacts on the indoor air quality. In particular, the final result is a panel, nice and appealing for the inhabitants, with a strong natural – renewable basis.
The BRIMEE project is expected to have a strong impact in terms of energy savings, boosting the application of sustainable and energy efficient solutions to the construction sector. To this aim, exploitation and business modelling activities have been clearly targeted at defining the project Exploitable Results and their impact and use for consortium business. Indeed, final results of the BRIMEE project have been completely identified, characterized and prioritized according to the TRL achieved. This allowed the consortium to paying the attention on the results more close to the market and partners took advantage of last project meetings in order to discuss and evaluate the appropriate agreements on the use of the foreground after the project end.
The BRIMEE Project Key Exploitable Results are summarised in the following:
- KER1 - Customized Foam material for BRIMEE applications (MELODEA and HUJI -TRL 6): NCC foam obtained through controlled freezing of the NCC material followed by solvent exchange of water suspensions of NCC formulations. The final formula for NCC foams contains 90% pulp and xyloglucan and 10% NCC.
- KER2 - Process for Foam Integration into panel at Pilot scale (SILCART - TRL 5): Up-scaled plant for producing NCC foam panels. The line is divided in the following four steps: Mixing and foaming, Freezing, Solvent exchange and Drying.
- KER3 - Panels Design implementing BRIMEE foam (BGTEC - TRL 5): ECO-innovative panelling solutions using the natural materials – wooden supporting structure adjusted to the panel dimensions and finishing wooden based board covered by photocatalytic multifunctional coating (KER5).
- KER4 - Protocols and Guidelines for panels Production and Use (RCONS): Protocols and guidelines for NCC foam panels’ production and use, including detailed technical characterization and description of the panels and related production processes, step-by-step procedures and troubleshooting tables.
- KER5 - BRIMEE panels functionalities treatment (AMS - TRL 6): Final treatment of panels with coating application, which can provide surface properties to the panel for better energy efficiency, antibacterial properties or odour release characteristics.
More in details, the identification of the potential exploitation routes (product, project and service based exploitation routes) through the BFMULO analysis have been refined within the third reporting period and prepared the ground for the appropriate set up of agreements among the Partners on the use of the foreground after the project. The main insights from Business Model activities have been provided. Potential synergies among projects working in the same field/topics have been identified.
In conclusion, the assessment of NCC foam performances in the three different regions where demos are installed show that BRIMEE insulation performances are comparable, if not superior, than those of standard insulation materials in terms of thermal performance and eventual occupants health issues and condensation phenomena. Partners are well aware of the limitations of the BRIMEE white foam in fire and water resistance. Solutions to these issues are already identified, and have been the subject of tests, addressing at lab scale the water permeability and fire suppression. Partners agree on the necessity to perform further activities of development and demonstration in order to stabilise the formulations, upscale the process and optimise the overall costs for the final product.
Moreover, dissemination, communication and awareness generation activities were foreseen throughout the entire project life and were crucial to ensure a proper market uptake after its completion. They involved tasks related to the general dissemination of the project results as well as focused actions taken to ensure the relevance and the applicability of the outputs. The communication strategy targeted to policy makers at EU and MS level and to key stakeholders within the energy efficiency in buildings community had thus the following main objectives:
- To define a strategy for communicating, influencing policymakers and other stakeholders based on the project results;
- To ensure a widespread and effective dissemination of project results to the relevant target groups;
- To share the technical results of the project with the stakeholders and the scientific community as well as other potential beneficiaries in order to promote the research and receive useful inputs;
- To draw attention to the contribution of the project to the issues of public interest;
- To ensure project visibility and maximize the awareness of the project outcomes amongst the stakeholders and beneficiaries throughout European Union.
The idea behind the BRIMEE dissemination methodology was to maximize the benefits of the project not only to project partners but also to the external entities interested in acquiring a direct access and adopting the specific RTD results. To ensure a maximum efficiency of the dissemination activities, BRIMEE focused on the specifically defined target groups. A targeted approach eliminated a wide distribution of general information to an unspecified audience, which might have been of little use. To provide added value, information dedicated to each target group was tailored to their specific interest in the BRIMEE outcomes. Therefore, BRIMEE focused on the dissemination tasks, tools and media most suitable to serve the above purpose. The BRIMEE dissemination work was implemented at three levels:
- European level: The main dissemination effort was focused on the European group of stakeholders as well as other beneficiaries e.g. various networks, technology platforms, and encompassed communicating information acquired from the BRIMEE Demo buildings as well as issues of European wide interest. This dissemination level also includes the European research and academia community towards whom deferent communication channels and tools were applied as well as international scientific, professional and non-professional journals;
- National level: The main dissemination effort was focused on decision makers in the construction industry and national owners associations, national associations of professionals, national technology platforms and clusters. This level also includes financial organizations involved in construction or investors operating on national level;
- Regional/local level: The development and deployment of eco-innovative panelling systems and the set up a local supply chain of components shall be in principle built upon a local approach involving local stakeholders and end-users. Therefore, the dissemination tasks addressed the groups regional/local stakeholders centered around demo buildings for which own local dissemination approach were developed and implemented by relevant partners benefitting from the available dissemination materials and established contacts with the local stakeholders.
List of Websites:
Project Coordinator
RINA Consulting (formerly D’Appolonia) S.p.A.
Contact: Andrea Maria Ferrari
Phone: +39 010 3628148
Fax: +39 010 3621078
E-mail: andrea.ferrari@rina.org
Project website: http://www.brimee.eu/
The challenge of today lies in the accomplishment of sustainable and low-energy buildings, which can combine at the same time the thermal insulation properties with healthy, comfortable, accessible and safe indoor environment. The main aim of the BRIMEE project is therefore to combine the development of better performing insulation materials for improving buildings energy performance and having as final overall objective a significant reduction of buildings operational energy, in combination with the capability not to emit harmful substances and to act as an absorber for indoor pollutants.
The innovation is based on a Nano-Crystalline Cellulose (NCC) based foam, strengthened with natural derived resins, providing mechanical strength and lightweight performances. Thanks to advanced processing developed and refined within the project, the NCC material can be profitably extracted from the waste streams of the pulp and paper industry, therefore increasing the sustainability of the end product, at no compromise on its performances.
Although the BRIMEE product family is applicable for the envelope and interior partitions of both new and existing buildings, most of the impact and the largest market is represented by buildings built before 1975 and requiring retrofitting. This is considered the initial market to be addressed, in line with EU priorities and recent action plans and directives, and confirming the approach to increase the value of building stock, improving the quality of life for the inhabitants. The final aim of the project is therefore to produce panels that can be well acceptable from building designers, architects, and the end users, thanks to their joint active involvement into the project, concurring to the development of a product representing a real marketable solution for the end users.
The project is run thanks to a strategically European-spread consortium, involving the active cooperation of materials scientists, developers and transformers, firms expert in the development of advanced built environment solutions, designers and architects, cooperating together under the coordination of RINA Consulting, with the common goal of developing innovation that can be effectively implemented into real scale, marketable products representing a success solution for the insulation and air quality a European level.
Project Context and Objectives:
In line with the need, felt by the inhabitants of either new construction or existing buildings, to improve the performances of the thermal and noise insulation without compromising on the quality of the air, more and more attention is paid to the accomplishment of sustainable and low-energy buildings, which can combine at the same time thermal insulation properties with a healthy, comfortable, accessible and safe indoor environment. Indeed the indoor environment is becoming an issue as in highly sealed energy efficient buildings a number of problems arise such as those related to SBS (Sick Building Syndrome). Consequently, the path towards future low-energy use, or even energy autonomous or energy-positive buildings, has to be followed without running the risk of introducing a negative impact on human health.
In this context, beside good and consistent thermal and acoustic performance over time, a high performance and marketable insulation material should possess additional features: be self-extinguishing, not degradable, unshrinkable or non-settling, safe during handling and installation, low cost, and should not pollute the indoor building environment, while having a low embodied energy. The BRIMEE project aims exactly at developing materials that can combine the different benefits of the current state of the art insulation materials, combining the insulation (thermal and noise barrier effects) with a whole bio-based origin, leading to a final material and product that is healthy and effective. In particular, BRIMEE project focuses on the development of a novel class of insulating materials, based on renewable porous framework constituted of a 3D network of nano cellulose reinforced with natural derived resin. The raw materials can be derived from non-food biomasses, wood residuals and slurries from wastewater treatment systems, as the intended process is flexible in input. However, the preferred source will be pulp & paper industry waste with the final purpose to achieving marketable products and industrial production methods based on advanced nanomaterials derived from renewable resources. Additionally, the expanded materials that have been developed are intended as the core of innovative composite panels, in that they have sound structural performances: this witness for an entirely new method of designing the panels, and new types of applications and structural performances that can be demanded, therefore extending the potential for implementation.
More in details, the main objective of BRIMEE project is the development of a new generation of insulation materials and products, to improve buildings energy performance without emitting harmful substances and acting as an absorber for indoor pollutants. The material solutions developed within BRIMEE are based on a Nano-Cristalline Cellulose (NCC) based foam, strengthened with a bio-based resins which provides mechanical strength and lightweight performances. Functional characterization to the Cellulose basis is exploited to confer to the material additional functionalities, such as fragrance release, anti-bacteria or IR radiation reflectance. Thanks to an advanced processing pioneered by our partners, the NCC material can be profitably extracted from the waste streams of the pulp and paper industry, readily available across EU-27 and being today an environmental issue for paper mills.
The key benefits of the BRIMEE product/process can be synthesized in the following:
- Use of renewable materials: NCC extracted from renewable, non food cellulose sources, or profitably extracted from wastes of the paper industry, bonded via natural based resins;
- Functionalization with natural derived compounds, capable of capturing the polluting elements, transforming the bulk of insulating materials from emitters of noxious chemicals into a sink, absorbing them throughout their life cycle;
- Low-temperature process, involving water and a totally closed loop solvent and acid exchange loop, ensuring limited environmental impact. Thanks to the reclamation of waste streams, the overall environmental impact can be considered as positive, accounting limited disposal.
BRIMEE NCC foam panels are suitable to be applied within three fully operational components:
- Outer insulation, to be applied for the building external envelope;
- Internal insulation, to be applied on the internal surface of the envelope;
- Internal partition panels.
Such differentiated applications and products have been tailored and designed on purpose having in mind the final use conditions, and the differentiated functionalities to be imparted.
In addition, the project has demonstrated the innovation through three demo buildings located in different climatic zones, Spain, Czech Republic and Italy.
Project Results:
The overall results and achievements of the BRIMEE project are aligned with the expectations, and according to the 48 Months term, are relevant for the scientific and technological development of the materials and processing, testing of the performances and design indications finalized to the achievement of the relevant functionalities. Moreover, such technical results are coupled with transversal enabling results, permitting to organize the work in terms of exploitation, in particular assigning responsibilities and methods for exploitation to each of the results deemed valid for exploitation, to address the standards and the typical features and barriers in the built environment, and to control the flows of information towards the dissemination activities, maximising the benefits of the awareness generated in the community of the Energy Efficiency in buildings, at no risks for unwanted leakage of knowledge. The main results achieved within the project are summarised in the following.
S&T Results – Conceptual Design
The panels are conceptually developed and the ideas on the different types of applications, end use, functionalities (among the ones developed within the project) are assessed. The end applications (flooring, roofing, partitions, internal or external insulation) influence on the features and specifications are addressed, as well as the foam benefits on the overall composite structure.
In particular, the use of the NCC foam panels has been described as external insulation, internal insulation and partitions. In all these uses, the key areas that the CE market products must consider are as follows:
- Mechanical Resistance and Stability;
- Safety in case of fire;
- Hygiene, health and the environment;
- Safety and accessibility in use;
- Protection against noise
- Energy economy and heat retention;
- Sustainable use of natural resources.
S&T Results – Panel Design
The panels are developed and the main features of the panel declined on the application are provided. The design is based on modelling and simulation results, as well as on the results of the testing that steer the aimed final performances in use conditions. The design is as well influenced on the expected production capacities, leading to the development of smaller panels, easier to handle and assemble in the end applications, compromising the benefits of larger panels with a higher flexibility and ease of design.
In particular, two different solutions for the application of NCC foam panels within internal partition walls have been developed with different technical characteristics in terms of components and thermo-structural behaviour, investigated through CAE, energy, thermal and structural modelling. 3D CAD libraries for both the identified alternative options have been prepared.
NCC foam material can be applied as panels suitable for three fully operational components: internal and external insulation as well as internal partition. Detailed procedures for the new eco-innovative panels installation, customised for the three different applications, have been developed. In case of external walls application, two different approaches have been selected for NCC foam panels installation, namely ventilate facades and cavity walls.
S&T Results – Material Development
The recipe for the foamed NCC core material is deployed and formalized. The production routine implemented, permitting to optimize the microstructure and reducing the energy consumption. The formulation is optimized, to maximize the use of renewable and natural derived materials, achieving at the same time good mechanical performances. A further action of upscaling has been performed, the materials are currently available foamed in A2 dimensions (40 x 60 x 1 cm).
More in details, NCC foam was obtained through controlled freezing of the NCC material followed by solvent exchange of NCC suspensions in water. Foam formulations, and foam formation process were improved during the project, leading to increased strength and significantly decreased foam costs. The final formula for NCC foams contains 90% pulp and xyloglucan and 10% NCC. The formulas is "whipped" and frozen at only -20°C, following by solvent exchange with ethanol and drying. The resulted virgin and isotropic foams have density of 30-40 Kg/m3, good mechanical performance, and are also flexible and durable.
S&T Results – Processing Development
In parallel with the development of the material, the recipe is formalized and established also for the process steps, the raw materials and the intermediates and processing stuff to achieve the products. The following upscaling steps are performed thanks to the approach, finalized to minimizing the energy expenditure and to confine in a narrow space the dangerous steps involving flammable solvents. Additionally, the overall sustainability is granted thanks to the programme for recovering the solvents or reagents and supporting therefore the generation of an overall sustainable process concept. The design of the up-scaled production went in two directions: a pilot line, to demonstrate the batch production of larger (A2) samples, and a longer term, pilot industrial line, oriented to respect the 100 kg/day of NCC foam panels, characterized by a higher level of automation. Such a system has been conceived and designed, yet the costs for its integration and prototyping lay well beyond the project financial capabilities.
More in details, the pilot line able to produce 8 NCC foam panels per day in the form of sheets at dimensions of 0.6 m x 0.4 m x 0.01 m was set up and tested. The NCC foaming line can mainly be subdivided in the following four steps:
- Mixing and foaming: The NCC suspension, pulp suspension (for reducing the required portion of comparatively expensive NCC) and additives as raw materials are mixed in a mixer until a liquid foam of the desired density is obtained.
- Freezing: The foam is poured into moulds of a desired shape and frozen at -20 °C.
- Solvent exchange: In a two-stage procedure, the water enclosed in the frozen foam is removed by using ethanol as solvent.
- Drying: In an oven the residual water and the solvent used are removed leaving a solid, dry cellulosic foam.
In order to further analyse the industrial potential of the innovative insulating material, a conceptual design related to a foaming plant with a capacity of 100 kg/day of material has been developed, customised to increase the plant automation level.
S&T Results – Testing
The material samples have been made available to the laboratories under the specific features and dimensions to permit the validation of the different fields of performances, as required by the project ambitious testing programme. Due to the difficulties in materials availability, the priority has been given to the tests providing a basis to the applicability of the materials in the building sector and the specific requirements as provided by the BRIMEE project. Therefore, materials fire resistance, vapour emissions in air, density and the mechanical performances have been investigated with priority as the basic features. Results have provided useful feedbacks to the materials surface functionalization, and are addressing the question on the methods to improve the final performances at sustainable application methods. Main results are summarised in the following.
The materials developed prove to perform well in terms of thermal conductivity and sound absorption. In particular, the NCC foam materials, with a thermal conductivity of around
0.035-0.041 W/mK, results classifiable as insulation material. Performances are in fact in the range of products available on the market. Moreover, the foam results suitable as sound absorber in the high frequency region. Low frequency absorption cannot be achieved, mainly due to the low density.
Considering the chemical emissions, the NCC white flexible foam material is suitable for indoor use from the indoor air quality (IAQ) point of view. This positive result is achieved thanks to the strong efforts of all the BRIMEE consortium, during the course of the project, seeking adequate composition and manufacturing process, resulting in a material not emitting harmful substances. In particular, this result is achieved avoiding the crosslinking steps, and selecting additives supporting the suppression of flame, not containing volatile or bromine compounds. The evaluation was exemplary carried out according to the German AgBB scheme based on the LCI-concept (AgBB – Committee for health-related evaluation of construction products; LCI – Lowest Concentration of Interest).
With reference to the fire resistance properties, the tests performed on the different NCC foam materials show that the behaviour of the material is drastically affected when the resin infiltration is not performed. In effect, only the black NCC foam material achieved the fire resistance class E, required for building applications (conservative value, due to the small sample dimensions: full scale tests on products cannot be performed). Other types of additives and fire retardants need to be identified in the future for granting better performances for the NCC white foam.
Water absorption and vapour transmission tests are performed over various untreated and waterproof treated NCC foam materials. Considering water absorption, based on the results obtained, it can be concluded that it is highly essential to modify the extremely high hydrophilic nature of the untreated NCC foam materials by either applying various thermal and/or chemical treatment or by successfully tuning their nature. The achieved results show substantial improvement with respect to their water absorption. Moreover, two options that can be used to implement further improvement of the hydrophilic nature of NCC foam materials, are identified.
- Option 1 - Modification of the hydrophilic nature of initial NCC foam materials by:
a. Applying various treatments (thermal, chemical)
b. Altering the nature of the NCC foam (changing the surface topology and chemistry)
- Option 2 - Further modification and improvement of the waterproof agent by:
a. Depositing various combined nanoparticle on NCC foam surface (TiO2-ZnO-SiO2 multicomponent nanoparticle formulation)
b. Using another nanoparticle synthesis method
Considering the vapour transmission, the materials show a high moisture transfer in tests with a reduction in the rate of water vapour transmission through the material in case of coated NCC foam materials. However, the vapour permeability of the material is not in itself a concern, in fact breathing insulation is required in building systems.
In conclusion, positive testing results are achieved in all the tested characteristics, although it is not possible to obtain one single material resuming all the positive achievements and performances sought. In particular, the NCC foam materials result to have good performances in terms of thermal insulation, sound absorption and chemical emissions, limited performances are achieved in terms of fire resistance and water absorption. In order to overcome such limits, guidelines and solutions are identified as starting points for future development of NCC foam materials able to fulfil all the required properties and to be successfully implemented as a constituent in the building industry.
S&T Results – Demonstrators
Installation and monitoring activities in the three selected demo sites, Brno (Czech Republic), Bergamo (Italy) and Seville (Spain) have been performed, permitting the testing of the results under real working conditions. A short description of the three demonstrators and the main results achieved are summarised in the following.
Czech Republic Demo
Brno, located in the southeast of landlocked Czech Republic, has an oceanic/humid continental climate, characterised by hot summer and cold winter temperatures. Typically, daily mean winter temperatures are ~-2.5°C and daily mean summer temperatures are ~19°C. A historic 4 storey building, built at the turn of the 19th/20th century is the location for the Brno demonstration project. This UNESCO protected building is typical of the time, with 3.5 meter ceilings, 60 cm load bearing walls, 30 cm partition walls and no out of inner insulation. Since UNESCO protected and due to façade regulations, its historical appearance has not to be modified with a retrofitting intervention. In particular, due to these restrictions and the necessity of a public authorization to alter external facades, the demonstration panels, both NCC foam and mineral wool panels, have been applied to internal parts of the walls. The actual site of this demonstration project is on the second floor on the exposed walls of the end of terrace building.
A summary of the Brno demo site performances assessment is provided in the following:
- Internal air temperature readings at both the NCC foam and mineral wool installations appear to be influenced more by factors other than external air temperature (e.g. central heating). This indicates a good thermal performance against the influences of cooling and over-heating by outside temperature changes.
- Heat flux values are greater both on the internal surface and behind the insulation panel in the mineral wool installation. Such findings show a greater heat loss from mineral wool insulation than from NCC foam.
- Relative humidity at the surface measurement points are lower in the NCC installation, indicating the need for a greater temperature drop than the one required in the mineral wool installation before the dew-point is reached.
- Unexpected results in the relationship between RH and surface temperature are shown in both NCC foam and mineral wool installations suggesting NCC foam does not behave any different to other insulation materials. Further analysis here is needed before conclusions can be made on the cause of this behavior.
- In the oceanic/humid continental climate NCC foam insulation performs better the mineral wool; particularly with regards to heat loss and potential condensation.
Italian Demo
The city of Bergamo, located in the Lombardy region of northern Italy, experiences a humid subtropical climate characterised by daily mean temperatures ranging between ~2.7°C in the winter and ~22.8°C in the summer. Unlike much of Italy, that experiences dry summer weather, this region experiences summers often wetter than the winters. An extension to a 1970s single floor office building comprising of three storeys that join to the original traditionally build office at the ground floor forms the location of this demonstration site. In particular, a small office room on the ground floor serves as the specific location for installation of both NCC foam and mineral wool panels.
A summary of the Bergamo demo site performances assessment is provided in the following:
- Both insulation materials contribute to comfortable internal air temperatures despite some considerable diurnal and seasonal variability in external air temperatures.
- Measured positive heat flux values behind the insulation materials are larger in the mineral wool installation, indicating greater heat transfers out of the building. There is no significant difference in measured heat flux at the internal surfaces during the warmer months, however, in the colder months the HFPi in the NCC foam installation is more positive than the equivalent mineral wool value. combined with the lower HFPb value this suggests the NCC foam retains heat and prevents it’s loss through the walls behind and into the outside air.
- Relative humidity measurements for mineral wool are consistently greater than, or equal to, NCC foam relative humidity values despite surface temperatures remaining within 1°C of the corresponding NCC foam measurement. Combined with lower measured internal air temperature at mineral wool, this suggests the dew point will be more easily reached than in the NCC foam installation.
- All factors remain within ranges for good occupant health and comfort through both colder and warmer transitional months.
- Data indicates NCC foam to perform as well as alternative insulation materials in the humid subtropical climate experienced in Bergamo.
Spanish Demo
Located in the Andalusia region of southern Spain, Seville experiences a subtropical Mediterranean climate with wet winters and drier summers. Daily mean temperatures reach ~28°C in the summer and ~11°C in the winter months. The demo site consists of a prefabricated module manufactured in Dragados factory in Las Cabezas de San Juan. This structure is in turn a demonstration module for the construction of a school in Andalusia. In this scenario, the BRIMEE NCC panels are used to replace a section of mineral wool as insulating core of glass fibre reinforced concrete (GRC) panels.
A summary of the Seville demo site performances assessment is provided in the following:
- The set-up has suffered from problems with the sensing equipment manifesting themselves in anomalous spikes or periods of no measurement. Addressing these issues and having a longer pilot period at this site would allow a better analysis of NCC foam performances compared to mineral wool.
- Surface relative humidity results for both NCC foam and mineral wool remain within a range considered to be comfortable for occupants and below values that could cause concern for condensations or mould growth.
- Heat flux measurements show that daytime fluxes from the outside to the inside are greater than the losses of heat that occur during the night. These significant variations in the heat flux reflect the big changes in internal and external air temperatures and suggest that both insulation materials react to temperature range maintaining a comfortable indoor temperature.
- In the subtropical Mediterranean climate of Seville NCC performs as well as mineral wool with regards to thermal performance and eventual occupants health issues and condensation phenomena.
S&T Results – Business Model
The whole consortium has set up a strategy for developing a business model acting as a single value-chain, leveraging on the key advantages of the innovative materials/products, and working to reduce the limitations so far identified, almost all associated to the costs for the new materials. In particular, two Business Models, tailored for the BRIMEE NCC foam and eco-innovative panels, have been designed in accordance with partners wishes. In particular, Business Model 1 (BM1) is focused on the “Customized foam material for BRIMEE applications” (KER #1), including the “Process for Foam Integration into panel” (KER #2) and the Business Model 2 (BM2) focused on “Panels Design implementing BRIMEE foam” (KER #3), including also KER #4 and KER #5. The two different Business Models have been analysed through the Business Model Canvas methodology.
Potential Impact:
The BRIMEE project activities at the Month 48 concluded in accordance to the expectations. Each result achieved is expecting to generate real impact for the partners, and returns in terms of applied knowledge: materials, products, real implementation and application of the materials under tested operating conditions. The key result is the demonstration of the industrial feasibility and sustainability of an insulation panel that is not only efficient in terms of thermal and sound barrier capacity, but at the same time can be implemented in the built environment with good acceptance on the end users and at no negative impacts on the indoor air quality. In particular, the final result is a panel, nice and appealing for the inhabitants, with a strong natural – renewable basis.
The BRIMEE project is expected to have a strong impact in terms of energy savings, boosting the application of sustainable and energy efficient solutions to the construction sector. To this aim, exploitation and business modelling activities have been clearly targeted at defining the project Exploitable Results and their impact and use for consortium business. Indeed, final results of the BRIMEE project have been completely identified, characterized and prioritized according to the TRL achieved. This allowed the consortium to paying the attention on the results more close to the market and partners took advantage of last project meetings in order to discuss and evaluate the appropriate agreements on the use of the foreground after the project end.
The BRIMEE Project Key Exploitable Results are summarised in the following:
- KER1 - Customized Foam material for BRIMEE applications (MELODEA and HUJI -TRL 6): NCC foam obtained through controlled freezing of the NCC material followed by solvent exchange of water suspensions of NCC formulations. The final formula for NCC foams contains 90% pulp and xyloglucan and 10% NCC.
- KER2 - Process for Foam Integration into panel at Pilot scale (SILCART - TRL 5): Up-scaled plant for producing NCC foam panels. The line is divided in the following four steps: Mixing and foaming, Freezing, Solvent exchange and Drying.
- KER3 - Panels Design implementing BRIMEE foam (BGTEC - TRL 5): ECO-innovative panelling solutions using the natural materials – wooden supporting structure adjusted to the panel dimensions and finishing wooden based board covered by photocatalytic multifunctional coating (KER5).
- KER4 - Protocols and Guidelines for panels Production and Use (RCONS): Protocols and guidelines for NCC foam panels’ production and use, including detailed technical characterization and description of the panels and related production processes, step-by-step procedures and troubleshooting tables.
- KER5 - BRIMEE panels functionalities treatment (AMS - TRL 6): Final treatment of panels with coating application, which can provide surface properties to the panel for better energy efficiency, antibacterial properties or odour release characteristics.
More in details, the identification of the potential exploitation routes (product, project and service based exploitation routes) through the BFMULO analysis have been refined within the third reporting period and prepared the ground for the appropriate set up of agreements among the Partners on the use of the foreground after the project. The main insights from Business Model activities have been provided. Potential synergies among projects working in the same field/topics have been identified.
In conclusion, the assessment of NCC foam performances in the three different regions where demos are installed show that BRIMEE insulation performances are comparable, if not superior, than those of standard insulation materials in terms of thermal performance and eventual occupants health issues and condensation phenomena. Partners are well aware of the limitations of the BRIMEE white foam in fire and water resistance. Solutions to these issues are already identified, and have been the subject of tests, addressing at lab scale the water permeability and fire suppression. Partners agree on the necessity to perform further activities of development and demonstration in order to stabilise the formulations, upscale the process and optimise the overall costs for the final product.
Moreover, dissemination, communication and awareness generation activities were foreseen throughout the entire project life and were crucial to ensure a proper market uptake after its completion. They involved tasks related to the general dissemination of the project results as well as focused actions taken to ensure the relevance and the applicability of the outputs. The communication strategy targeted to policy makers at EU and MS level and to key stakeholders within the energy efficiency in buildings community had thus the following main objectives:
- To define a strategy for communicating, influencing policymakers and other stakeholders based on the project results;
- To ensure a widespread and effective dissemination of project results to the relevant target groups;
- To share the technical results of the project with the stakeholders and the scientific community as well as other potential beneficiaries in order to promote the research and receive useful inputs;
- To draw attention to the contribution of the project to the issues of public interest;
- To ensure project visibility and maximize the awareness of the project outcomes amongst the stakeholders and beneficiaries throughout European Union.
The idea behind the BRIMEE dissemination methodology was to maximize the benefits of the project not only to project partners but also to the external entities interested in acquiring a direct access and adopting the specific RTD results. To ensure a maximum efficiency of the dissemination activities, BRIMEE focused on the specifically defined target groups. A targeted approach eliminated a wide distribution of general information to an unspecified audience, which might have been of little use. To provide added value, information dedicated to each target group was tailored to their specific interest in the BRIMEE outcomes. Therefore, BRIMEE focused on the dissemination tasks, tools and media most suitable to serve the above purpose. The BRIMEE dissemination work was implemented at three levels:
- European level: The main dissemination effort was focused on the European group of stakeholders as well as other beneficiaries e.g. various networks, technology platforms, and encompassed communicating information acquired from the BRIMEE Demo buildings as well as issues of European wide interest. This dissemination level also includes the European research and academia community towards whom deferent communication channels and tools were applied as well as international scientific, professional and non-professional journals;
- National level: The main dissemination effort was focused on decision makers in the construction industry and national owners associations, national associations of professionals, national technology platforms and clusters. This level also includes financial organizations involved in construction or investors operating on national level;
- Regional/local level: The development and deployment of eco-innovative panelling systems and the set up a local supply chain of components shall be in principle built upon a local approach involving local stakeholders and end-users. Therefore, the dissemination tasks addressed the groups regional/local stakeholders centered around demo buildings for which own local dissemination approach were developed and implemented by relevant partners benefitting from the available dissemination materials and established contacts with the local stakeholders.
List of Websites:
Project Coordinator
RINA Consulting (formerly D’Appolonia) S.p.A.
Contact: Andrea Maria Ferrari
Phone: +39 010 3628148
Fax: +39 010 3621078
E-mail: andrea.ferrari@rina.org
Project website: http://www.brimee.eu/
