BUILDING WITH SUSTAINABLE FIBER
INPUT OUTPUT
MECHANICAL ENGINEERING | DECEMBER 2016 | P.88
BUILDING WITH SUSTAINABLE FIBER
Turning coconut waste into an alternative to particleboard
M
Pressed coconut fibers are used to create custom acoustic sorption panels (right) and other building materials.
ae-ling Lokko had a co-op job with a coconut fiber supplier in Accra, the capital of Ghana, a few years ago, when she was struck by how much waste coconuts generated. But all that discarded material sparked an idea. Lokko, a doctoral candidate at the Center for Architecture Science and Ecology, a collaboration between Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute in Troy, N.Y., and the architecture firm Skidmore, Owings, and Merrill, began making pressed fiberboards and other affordable building materials from the waste byproducts of coconuts. Last year she launched AMBIS Technologies to develop the boards and market them to emerging “hot-humid” countries as an affordable and sustainable alternative to the woodbased particleboard that dominates the building industry. But Lokko ran into a problem common to people trying to break into mature markets. The process of creating a mass-produced highdensity board from sustainable materials wasn't very sustainable. “Trying to go up against particleboard is a losing battle,” she said. The concept, though, makes sense. Coconuts are grown year-round in 93 countries and generate about 20 million tons of husks annually. Coir fibers extracted from the husk are among the strongest and lightest agricultural materials. Lokko opted to bind the fibers with a combination of mycelium fungus and soy protein, a non-toxic alternative to the petroleum-based formaldehyde
binders used in particleboard. Unfortunately, this healthier binding created its own headaches, as it tended to settle to the bottom of the fiberboard matrix during the pressing process. Lokko’s boards also ran into other challenges. Procuring and processing coconut fibers cost almost three times more than particleboard materials. Quality control was also an issue. With her company based in upstate New York, she had to source coconuts from different distributors. “We realized that a coconut from Sri Lanka is not the same as one from Ghana,” Lokko said. Lokko’s research, though, showed the mechanical performance of the fiberboards is equal to particleboards and that they could eventually compete in markets for low- to medium-density materials. And that’s where AMBIS is headed. The company is building acoustic sorption panels for an upscale market. The panels naturally absorb moisture that collects indoors, which helps to reduce load on HVAC systems and lower energy costs. The square-foot panels include a mat in the middle made from coconut fibers and other sustainable materials like flax and jute, which are easier to source than coconuts. The outer layer includes sensors for collecting air quality information, which can be monitored through an app. Several hundred panels are now installed in a test house in Ghana. “There are no regrets,” Lokko said. “It’s exciting to bring this to both Ghana and New York.” ME JEFF O’HEIR
MECHANICAL ENGINEERING | DECEMBER 2016 | P.88
BUILDING WITH SUSTAINABLE FIBER
Turning coconut waste into an alternative to particleboard
M
Pressed coconut fibers are used to create custom acoustic sorption panels (right) and other building materials.
ae-ling Lokko had a co-op job with a coconut fiber supplier in Accra, the capital of Ghana, a few years ago, when she was struck by how much waste coconuts generated. But all that discarded material sparked an idea. Lokko, a doctoral candidate at the Center for Architecture Science and Ecology, a collaboration between Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute in Troy, N.Y., and the architecture firm Skidmore, Owings, and Merrill, began making pressed fiberboards and other affordable building materials from the waste byproducts of coconuts. Last year she launched AMBIS Technologies to develop the boards and market them to emerging “hot-humid” countries as an affordable and sustainable alternative to the woodbased particleboard that dominates the building industry. But Lokko ran into a problem common to people trying to break into mature markets. The process of creating a mass-produced highdensity board from sustainable materials wasn't very sustainable. “Trying to go up against particleboard is a losing battle,” she said. The concept, though, makes sense. Coconuts are grown year-round in 93 countries and generate about 20 million tons of husks annually. Coir fibers extracted from the husk are among the strongest and lightest agricultural materials. Lokko opted to bind the fibers with a combination of mycelium fungus and soy protein, a non-toxic alternative to the petroleum-based formaldehyde
binders used in particleboard. Unfortunately, this healthier binding created its own headaches, as it tended to settle to the bottom of the fiberboard matrix during the pressing process. Lokko’s boards also ran into other challenges. Procuring and processing coconut fibers cost almost three times more than particleboard materials. Quality control was also an issue. With her company based in upstate New York, she had to source coconuts from different distributors. “We realized that a coconut from Sri Lanka is not the same as one from Ghana,” Lokko said. Lokko’s research, though, showed the mechanical performance of the fiberboards is equal to particleboards and that they could eventually compete in markets for low- to medium-density materials. And that’s where AMBIS is headed. The company is building acoustic sorption panels for an upscale market. The panels naturally absorb moisture that collects indoors, which helps to reduce load on HVAC systems and lower energy costs. The square-foot panels include a mat in the middle made from coconut fibers and other sustainable materials like flax and jute, which are easier to source than coconuts. The outer layer includes sensors for collecting air quality information, which can be monitored through an app. Several hundred panels are now installed in a test house in Ghana. “There are no regrets,” Lokko said. “It’s exciting to bring this to both Ghana and New York.” ME JEFF O’HEIR
