Principal Investigator
← Research projects
Ongoing project
Development of Low-Cost Thermal Insulation Materials from Locally Available Ugandan Agro-Waste for Building, Cold-Chain and Industrial Applications
Summary
Uganda generates substantial quantities of agricultural residues, including rice husk, banana fibre and stem, coffee husk, maize cobs, sugarcane bagasse, and eucalyptus biomass. Much of this waste is underutilized or openly burned, contributing to environmental pollution. At the same time, conventional thermal insulation materials are often expensive and largely imported. Converting Ugandan agro-waste into low-cost thermal insulation provides an opportunity for sustainable building materials, energy conservation, waste valorization, and local manufacturing.
To develop, optimize, and characterize low-cost thermal insulation materials from locally available Ugandan agro-waste for building, refrigeration, industrial, and other thermal applications.
Selected agro-wastes will be collected, dried, processed, and converted into fibres, particles, or ash-based insulation materials. Their physical, chemical, morphological, and thermal properties will be characterized using density, particle-size analysis, SEM, FTIR, TGA/DSC, moisture absorption, and thermal conductivity measurements. Different binder types, waste compositions, particle sizes, densities, and compaction conditions will be investigated using Design of Experiments (DOE). Prototype insulation panels will be manufactured and evaluated for thermal conductivity, thermal diffusivity, heat resistance, compressive strength, water absorption, fire/thermal stability, and durability. FEM will be employed to model heat transfer, while ANN and other machine-learning techniques will predict insulation performance. Multi-objective optimization will identify formulations that minimize thermal conductivity, density, cost, and environmental impact while maximizing thermal resistance, strength, and durability.
The study is expected to produce optimized agro-waste insulation formulations, validated manufacturing parameters, thermal-property databases, predictive AI/FEM models, and laboratory-scale insulation panels suitable for practical applications.
The project integrates Ugandan agro-waste valorization, sustainable materials processing, thermal characterization, FEM, AI, and multi-objective optimization to develop affordable locally manufactured insulation materials.
The research will support agricultural-waste reduction, energy efficiency, circular manufacturing, import substitution, local value addition, employment creation, and development of affordable thermal insulation for Uganda's buildings, cold-storage facilities, refrigeration systems, and industrial thermal applications. |
To develop, optimize, and characterize low-cost thermal insulation materials from locally available Ugandan agro-waste for building, refrigeration, industrial, and other thermal applications.
Selected agro-wastes will be collected, dried, processed, and converted into fibres, particles, or ash-based insulation materials. Their physical, chemical, morphological, and thermal properties will be characterized using density, particle-size analysis, SEM, FTIR, TGA/DSC, moisture absorption, and thermal conductivity measurements. Different binder types, waste compositions, particle sizes, densities, and compaction conditions will be investigated using Design of Experiments (DOE). Prototype insulation panels will be manufactured and evaluated for thermal conductivity, thermal diffusivity, heat resistance, compressive strength, water absorption, fire/thermal stability, and durability. FEM will be employed to model heat transfer, while ANN and other machine-learning techniques will predict insulation performance. Multi-objective optimization will identify formulations that minimize thermal conductivity, density, cost, and environmental impact while maximizing thermal resistance, strength, and durability.
The study is expected to produce optimized agro-waste insulation formulations, validated manufacturing parameters, thermal-property databases, predictive AI/FEM models, and laboratory-scale insulation panels suitable for practical applications.
The project integrates Ugandan agro-waste valorization, sustainable materials processing, thermal characterization, FEM, AI, and multi-objective optimization to develop affordable locally manufactured insulation materials.
The research will support agricultural-waste reduction, energy efficiency, circular manufacturing, import substitution, local value addition, employment creation, and development of affordable thermal insulation for Uganda's buildings, cold-storage facilities, refrigeration systems, and industrial thermal applications. |