LIFE CYCLE ASSESSMENT OF WOOD WOOL CEMENT BOARD USING RECYCLED WOOD

This paper presents a study on the environmental impacts of wood wool cement board (WWCB) production through a comprehensive life cycle inventory (LCI) database for its manufacture. It was developed by a sensitivity analysis of the raw material sources using the life cycle assessment (LCA) methodology. A cradle-to-gate LCA was performed considering logs obtained during forest thinning as the conventional wooden resource versus the recycling of wood building waste. The sensitivity analysis was carried out taking into account the influence of the percentage of recycled wood. WWCB consists of a wood strand component that is bonded within an inorganic mineral matrix as concrete. It is produced in slabs, tiles, and building blocks for thermal and acoustic insulation of roofing, walls, and flooring. It is weather and fire resistant and has good thermal inertia and compression strength. Production volume of these panels is low compared to the resin-bonded wood composites. However, the potential market for these products is significant. A comparative environmental impact assessment of inorganic and resin bonded products has still not been investigated due to a lack of data. Aged wood waste often out performs virgin wood during production of WWCB. Degradation of wood fiber hemicellulose improves wood-cement bonding strength [1]. WWCB producers have interest in utilizing this resource but don't use wood waste feedstock due to the presence of pollutants, the shape of the timber, and its dimensional incompatibility with processing equipment and technologies