Green Composite Sound Absorber Production from Orange Peel Waste for Efficient Sound Insulation

Abstract

IntroductionPorous materials have poor acoustic absorption coefficient in the low-frequency range. Adding natural waste materials (e.g., cotton) with good sound absorption values at low frequencies to resins, such as acrylic and polypropylene, improves acoustic performance at low frequencies. There is no study on the production of sound insulation material using orange peel and resin. The study will contribute to the literature with green composite sound absorbing materials produced with the help of green technology using commercial water-based acrylic resin and orange peel.ObjectivesIt is aimed to design and develop cost-effective green composite sound insulation materials produced using orange peels and commercial acrylic resins as agricultural waste.MethodsFirst, the orange peels were dried and ground at room condition. Second, green composite sound insulation materials were produced using commercial acrylic resins. Finally, the sound insulation performances of the produced materials were determined and characterization tests were applied to the materials.ResultsThe highest sound absorption performance of the sound insulation materials produced from orange peel for 10 Hz, 100 Hz, and 1 kHz, respectively, was observed as 26%, 17.1%, and 37.5% in OP-20. OP-20 exhibited similar properties with commercial sound insulation materials.ConclusionThe developed porous sound insulation material exhibited similar performance to commercial sound insulation materials at low frequencies. The developed green composite sound absorbers were produced very cheaply, because they were produced using orange peel and commercial acrylic resins, which are in the category of free waste. As a result, farmers living in rural areas will use their agricultural wastes for insulation purposes instead of burning them, creating employment in a new area and saving a significant amount of energy. The developed green composite insulation material is a candidate for commercialization in the future.