STTR Phase I: Eco-friendly Thermal Insulation Composite Foam Boards

This Small Business Technology Transfer (STTR) Phase I project will develop a novel, environmentally-friendly thermal insulation composite foam board. The environmental and economic impacts of energy production and use are key areas of concern in the world today. One of the largest uses of energy is for heating and cooling of buildings; thus construction companies are always searching for products which can improve the insulation performance of buildings. The rigid foam board insulation products in widespread use today are produced from petroleum-based chemicals. The availability of insulation which supports green building initiatives will be a great boon to eco-conscious customers, and will provide an excellent incentive for others to use the foam board product. The foam board is the first of a number of envisioned products which will leverage cellulose nanofibrils (CNFs), which have been long-studied but are now on the verge of becoming available in sufficient quantities to realize their potential in commercial products. Successful conclusion of this effort will demonstrate a unique, innovative product that will have excellent mechanical and thermal properties at comparable prices to incumbent petroleum-based materials. The intellectual merit of this project is to determine the feasibility of creating a CNF-reinforced corn starch foam to produce an eco-friendly thermal insulation foam board for use in the construction industry. The raw material, cellulose, is an abundant material, obtainable from renewable sources including a broad range of plants and sea animals (tunicates). CNFs have a significant ability to reinforce otherwise weak materials, permitting new composite products with extremely beneficial characteristics. Corn starch, a readily available renewable resource, has many important industrial uses in films, foams, and aerogels, but on its own is weak and brittle. The project objectives are to create the first corn starch based foam board with the desired material properties of low density, high mechanical properties, fire retardancy, water repellency and low thermal conductivity. The team will explore various materials combinations and chemical treatments to produce foam boards that have the material properties required to meet market needs. The foam board will have comparable or better mechanical and thermal properties to typical petroleum-based polystyrene foam boards on the market, but with a dramatically lower carbon footprint.