Thermal, Physical and Mechanical Performance of Orange Peel Boards: A New Recycled Material for Building Application

More than 124 million tons of oranges are consumed in the world annually. Transformation orange fruit generates a huge quantity waste, largely composed peels. Some attempts to reuse by-products derived from citrus waste have been proposed for energy production, nutrient source or pharmaceutical, food and cosmetic industries. However, their use building sector had not researched. In this study, peels, five different ratios, 100% wet peels 75% 0% dry 25%, were submitted thermo-compression procedure. They evaluated according physical (bulk density, water absorption, thickness swelling, surface soundness thermal conductivity) mechanical properties (bending strength modulus elasticity). The results showed that can be used as insulation material. addition dried makes structure board heterogeneous thus increases its porosity causes loss strength. Hence, with sole peel, whose conductivity is 0.065 W/mK while flexural 0.09 MPa, recommended.