Given the harmful effects of agricultural waste residues on the environment and the abundance of pineapple byproducts after harvest, converting pineapple waste into a high-engineering value product for practical applications is one of the solutions toward a sustainable development in developing countries. For the first time, flexible cellulose aerogels from raw pineapple-leave fibers (PALF) are developed successfully by using an adhesive agent, polyvinyl alcohol (PVA), and deionized (DI) water as a solvent, followed by a freeze-drying process. The effects of the pineapple fiber (PF) concentration on the heat and acoustic insulation properties are also investigated. The PF aerogels show high porosities of nearly 99%, ultra-low densities of (0.013 – 0.033) g/cm3, and a microporous structure which are determined by FE-SEM, BET and XRD analysis. They have very low thermal conductivities of (0.030 – 0.034) W/mK, indicating their excellent suitability for heat insulation applications. Indeed, the thermal jacket using a PF aerogel as filler wrapped around a water bottle can maintain the water temperature below 0 oC for 6 hours (initial temperature of -3 oC), and above 40 oC for 2.5 hours (initial temperature of 90 oC). The heat insulation capacity of the thermal jacket is about three times better than that of a commercially available product. With the same thickness, the noise reduction coefficient of 2.0 wt.% PF aerogel samples is greater than that of a commercial absorber Basmel, which demonstrates their potential in acoustic insulation applications.
This paper highlights application of the MTPS method of C-Therm's Trident Thermal Conductivity Analyzer