This bachelor essay is divided into two parts, the first being a construction of a single-family house and the second an in-depth study of five different isolation materials, analysed from an energy perspective. The first part, the construction of the single-family house, has been created from knowledge acquired during three years of studying at KTH Royal institute of Technology in Stockholm, in the program Architecture and the Built Environment. The constructed house is a one-floor house of 137m 2with façade plaster, situated in Borlänge, Sweden. The house has a wooden frame which is built on a on sight cast concrete foundation, on the ground. The house’s roof is a gable roof, which has an angle of 24 degrees. The roofing is tile. The house is heated by underfloor heating connected to a geothermal heating pump and the ventilation is controlled by a FTXsystem. A specific energy requirement was set up so secure that an energy efficient construction was chosen. The reason for the topic of the study (isolation materials), is due to the increase of demands put on the energy economizing and climate aware, both from the building industry and society at large. The purpose was to investigate whether there are better alternatives than the traditional mineral wool isolation, when looking at energy efficiency. The depth study was based on both literatures on the subject and product information. From this a comparison of the five materials was made. The premises considered where: energy efficiency; price i.e. investment costs; energy release from manufacturing the material, and energy consumption during 25 years of a mortar phase. The comparison is divided between energy comparison and a calculation of the costs. The comparison was further divided by first looking at a scenario where the wall structures U-value is constant and a varying isolation thickness; and then the isolation thickness was constant and the U-value was varied. From this conclusions about the suitability of the materials were drawn. Stone wool was the material found most suitable when calculations where finished, and therefore it was chosen to be the isolation in the constructed single-family house.

A pilot project in 2010, conducted at CBI, showed the capacity for pulp, micro fibrilars from the forest industry to act as Viscosity Modifying Agent (VMA) in concrete. This project was, however, too limited to find answers for optimal use of this kind of material. The forest industry company Stora Enso wants to find out if their pulp can be used in concrete in order to somehow improve its properties. Two micro fibrilar suspensions have been tested. The tested fibrils are in two sizes, the finer material named MFC1 has undergone more homogenization than the course material named MFC2. The fibrils have been evaluated in regard to how the fibrils react with mortars in both its fresh and hardened state. Tests have been conducted on the use of concrete equivalent mortars with a maximum aggregates size of 4 mm. Two water-cement-ratios have been used in the tests, 0.45 and 0.60. Three different fibril dosages have been tested, 1, 2 and 3 kg/m³. The results of these trials of cellulose fibrils has been evaluated in respect of rheology, compressive strength, flexural strength, cracking, shrinkage, water capillary porosity, anti-wash out resistance (underwater concrete) and as a possible surface coverage. The results from the trials, conducted in this report, show that an increased dosage of fibrils leads to an increased plastic viscosity. The fibrils appear to have no effect on the flexural- and compressive strength, and no effect on the shrinkage of the test specimens. According to our results it is not advisable to use the fibrils for the purpose of acting as an agent for anti-washout resistance, or as a surface coverage.   The work have been performed at Swedish Cement and Concrete Research Institute, CBI, in Stockholm in the spring of 2011. CBI is an institution whose mission is to create, apply and disseminate knowledge in the concrete and rock area. / Ett tidigare pilotprojekt har under 2010 utförts på CBI, och där undersöktes möjligheten för cellulosafibrer från skogsindustrin att fungera som Viscosity Modifying Agent (VMA) i betong. Utrymmet i detta projekt var dock för begränsat för att finna svar för optimal användning av denna typ av material. Nu vill skogsindustriföretaget Stora Enso ta reda på om massa från deras träprodukter kan användas i betong, för att på något sätt förbättra dess egenskaper. Vi har därför provat suspensioner innehållande två olika fraktioner av cellulosafibriller. De testade fibrerna finns i två storlekar, det finare materialet heter MFC1 och har genomgått med homogenisering än det grövre materialer som heter MFC2. Dessa två typer har tillsats i bruk och utvärderats i hur de reagerar i både brukets färska och dess hårdnade tillstånd. Testerna har genomförts på bruk med en maximal ballaststorlek på 4 mm. Två vct-nivåer har använts i försöken, 0,45 och 0,60. Tre olika fibrilldoser har prövats, nämligen 1, 2 och 3 kg/m³ fibriller. Resultaten från dessa försök av cellulosafibriller har utvärderats med avseende på reologi, tryckhållfasthet, böjhållfasthet, sprickbildning, kapillaritet, krympning, anti-urvaskning och som möjlig ytbetäckning.   De tester som har genomförts visar att med ökad dos fibriller ökar den plastiska viskositeten. Fibrillerna visade sig inte ha någon effekt på böj- eller tryckhållfasheten, samt ingen effekt på krympning av provkropparna. Testerna visar att fibrillerna inte heller agerar med någon possitiv effekt som anti-urvaskningsmedel, eller som ett täckande ytskikt.   Försöken har genomförts vid CBI Betonginstitutet i Stockholm mellan 21 mars och 8 juli år 2011.CBI är en institution vars uppdrag är att skapa, tillämpa och sprida kunskap inom betong och bergområdet.

The structure and composition of denim jeans is complex. In addition to cotton, which is the dominating type of textile fibre, there may be up to about 20 % synthetic fibres. The synthetic fibres are found in the sewing thread and in the elastic yarns that are used to make stretch denim jeans. In total it was found that up to six different types of textile fibres may be present in the material. To be able to recycle cotton in jeans by producing regenerated cellulose fibres a very high purity with respect to cotton is required. The purpose with this project was to investigate the possibility to fractionate the textile material found in denim jeans to obtain a pure cotton fraction that can be used in the viscose process to produce regenerated cellulose fibres, which then can be used to manufacture new clothes. In this project traditional wet mechanical separation equipment found in the pulp and paper industry, in the form of a laboratory screen (used as a model for a pressure screen) and hydrocyclone, was used to fractionate the textile material from cut and shredded denim jeans. The degree of separation of synthetic fibres from cotton fibres was quantitatively evaluated by measuring the glucose content after acid hydrolysis. The results from the experimental work showed that there were runnability problems both regarding disintegration and fractionation. Regarding the fractionation, plugging was found to be a problem and no significant separation of synthetic fibres from cotton fibres was obtained with the conditions of the experiment. / Strukturen och sammansättningen i denimjeans är komplex. Utöver bomull, vilken är den dominerande typen av textilfiber, kan de innehålla upp till 20 % syntetiska fibrer i tyget. De syntetiska fibrerna finns i sytråden och i elastiska garner som används för att tillverka stretchdenimjeans. Den här studien visade att upp till sex olika typer av textilfibrer kan förekomma i materialet. För att kunna återvinna bomull i denimjeans genom att producera regenererade cellulosafibrer krävs en mycket hög renhet med avseende på bomull. Syftet med projektet var att undersöka möjligheten att fraktionera textilmaterialet i denimjeans för att erhålla en ren bomullsfraktion som kan användas i viskosprocessen för att tillverka regenererade textilfibrer, vilka sedan kan användas för att tillverka nya kläder. I projektet användes, inom massa och pappersindustrin traditionell våtmekanisk separationsutrustning i form av en laboratoriesil (här använd som en modell av en trycksil) och en hydrocyklon, för att fraktionera textilmaterialet från klippta och sönderslitna denimjeans. Separationsgraden av syntetiska fibrer från bomullsfibrer bestämdes kvantitativt genom att mäta glukoshalten efter sur hydrolys. Resultatet från det experimentella arbetet visade att det finns körbarhetsproblem både gällande uppslagning och fraktionering. För fraktioneringen visade sig pluggning vara ett problem och ingen signifikant separation av syntetiska fibrer från bomullsfibrer erhölls med förhållandena i experimentet.

Idag ökar man isoleringen alltmer i takkonstruktion för att spara energi. Ökad mängd isolering minskar temperaturen över takets yttre delar och höjer den relativa fuktigheten där.  Dessutom finns risk att fuktigt material byggs in mellan alltmer täta skikt vilket leder till att det tar längre tid för byggfukten att torka. Detta resulterar i en ogynnsam fuktfördelning med höga relativa fuktigheter över konstruktionen där risken för mikrobiell påväxt ökar. Syftet med denna studie är att utreda hur fuktomlagring sker baserad på inbyggnadsfuktkvoten i välisolerade parallelltak. För att göra riskbedömning av olika takkonstruktioner har fuktsimuleringar gjorts i Wufi 2D där resultat analyserats i Wufi Bio för bedömning av risknivå för mikrobiell påväxt. Resultaten indikerar klart skillnad mellan val av ventilerad och oventilerad takkonstruktion. Det råder även en skillnad mellan val av isoleringsmaterial, takets färdigställandedatum, takets exponeringsriktning och takets utvändiga ytskikt. Slutsatsen är att det råder en större risk för mikrobiell påväxt hos oventilerad takkonstruktion, takkonstruktion som färdigställs under höst (den 1 oktober) jämfört med vår (den 1 april), takkonstruktion som är exponerad mot norr jämfört med söder samt takkonstruktion med utvändigt ytskikt av plåt istället för sedum. / Today there's an increase in the use of insulation in roof constructions in order to save energy. Increased amount of insulation allows temperature drops in the outer layers of the roof resulting in higher relative humidity in the surrounding construction.  There is also a risk that moist materials are built-in between tight layers which contributes to longer drying processes in order for the moisture to successfully dry out. This also contributes to an unfavorable divide in moisture with high relative humidity settling on top of the construction where risk of microbial growth is the greatest. The aim of this study is to investigate how moisture behaves based on the mounting quota of moist in well insulated parallel roof constructions. To make a risk assessment of different roof constructions, different simulations have been created in Wufi 2D where results are further analyzed in Wufi Bio for final assessment on whether there is an apparent microbial advantage. The result help shimmer light on the differences between ventilated and unventilated roof constructions. There is also an evident importance in choice of insulation materials, the finish-date for the roof, exposure vulnerability and the outer coating of the roof. The conclusion is that there is a greater risk of microbial damages in unventilated roof constructions when comparing the roof construction that is finished first of October in comparison to first of April, the roof construction that is exposed to north rather than south and to the roof construction with outer surface layer of tin rather than sedum.

To save energy it’s popular to build houses with low energy loss. In these houses the walls are keeping a lower temperature in the external side which leads to a higher relative humidity. In addition more material, such as wood studs, are used which means that there is more moisture to dry. More moisture in combination with higher relative humidity may pose a higher risk of microbial growth. The purpose of this study was to investigate what is a reasonable moisture content in wood studs in four different well-insulated exterior walls. It has also been investigated how moisture rearrangements effect the exterior walls. The software Wufi2D, which does moisture-simulations, was used to collect data. The results have been analyzed in Wufi Bio which showed that the moisture content should be somewhere between 12.5 to 18.5%, depending on how the wall is built. The conclusions are that windbreaks vapor resistivity is essential for what is a reasonable built in moisture content in the wood studs. Depending on the materials that are used, it´s important to consider how much moisture the wall construction contains.