This presentation was an input Dr. Luvuyo Tyhoda, from Stellenbosch University, South Africa, during the BioHome Summer School in University of Hamburg & Thünen Insitute in Hamburg (31 May - 14 June 2019)

1. •Faculty of AgriSciences (PhD Proposal)
FIRE RESISTANT WOOD COMPOSITE PRODUCTS IN BUILDING
APPLICATIONS
• DR .L .TYH O DA
• F o res t an d Wo o d S cien ce Depart m en t
• S t ellen bo s ch U n ivers it y , S o u t h A frica
• 03-0 6-209

2. yourknowledgepartner
Outline
• Stellenbosch University
• Forest and Wood Science Department
 How do we respond to challenges facing a modern
society
 Wood composites research group
 Research focus
• Current research and outlook

3. yourknowledgepartner
Stellenbosch University
• Leading public research university
situated in the town of
Stellenbosch, South Africa
• Founded: 1866
• Chancellor: Johann Rupert
• Vice-Chancellor: Wim de Villiers
• Academic staff: 939
• Administrative staff: 2019
• Students: 27,823
• Undergraduates: 17,970
• Postgraduates: 9,853

4. yourknowledgepartner
Stellenbosch University
• 150 departments divided
amongst 10 faculties
 Arts and Social Sciences
 Science
 Education
 Law
 Theology
 Economic and
Management Sciences
 Engineering
 AgriSciences

5. yourknowledgepartner
Stellenbosch University
 Military Science — situated
in Saldanha Bay
 Health Sciences — situated
in Tygerberg
 University of Stellenbosch
Business School —
situated in Bellville

6. yourknowledgepartner
Faculty of AgriSciences
• Established in 1918
• In 2006 the Faculties of Agriculture
and Forestry merged to become
the Faculty of AgriSciences as it is
today.
• The Faculty has 1271
undergraduate and 461
postgraduate students
• It has 11 departments
Prof Danie Brink

7. Department of Forest and Wood Science

8. yourknowledgepartner
Core business
• Academic service delivery to:
i. The resources and wood
product science tertiary
education sector
ii. The resources and wood
products commercial sectors
iii. The African society
iv. The global forestry sector

9. yourknowledgepartner
Core business
• Academic service delivery
encompasses:
i. Undergraduate and Postgraduate
education to forest and wood
product science students.
ii. Basic and applied research to
clients in the global forest and
wood products sectors.
iii. Community interaction with African
civil society as well as the global
forest and wood product science
communities.

10. The South African Housing Challenge

11. yourknowledgepartner
The apartheid city and beyond
Separate development
i. Group areas act.
ii. Bantustans
Post apartheid South Africa
i. Reconstruction and development
 Rapid urbanisation
 Informal settlements
 2.9 to 3.6 million people live in
shacks in South Africa
 995 000 people live in shacks in
Namibia

12. yourknowledgepartner
Faculty of AgriSciences (PhD Proposal)

13. yourknowledgepartner

14. Wood composite research group

15. yourknowledgepartner
Department of Forest and Wood Science
5
Fire retardant building materials
Dr Luvuyo Tyhoda
Fire retardant wafer
boards
Fire retardant
phosphate based
composite materials
Geopolymer
composites
Fire retardant Cross
Laminated Timber
(CLT)

16. yourknowledgepartner
Composite research focus
• Low carbon footprint and fire retardant composite products
 Phosphate bonded composite materials
 Geopolymer bonded composite materials

17. Composite research focus

18. yourknowledgepartner
Composite research focus
• Low carbon footprint and fire retardant composite products
 Phosphate bonded composite materials
 Geopolymer bonded composite materials

19. •Motivation:
Phosphate bonded composite materials

20. yourknowledgepartner Motivation:
Phosphate bonded composite materials
 Use only 41% of the total energy used in cement production (Laufenberg and
Aro, 2004).
 Require only a fraction of the total energy used in traditional wood composite
binders such as the polymeric resins (Donahue and Aro, 2010).
 The processing and production of phosphate binder emit 20% less greenhouse
gases compared to Portland cement (Waugh, 2013).
 One of the binder component is commercially available as monopotassium
phosphate.
 Not affected by biomass source, unlike Portland cement
1

21. yourknowledgepartner Motivation
Phosphate Composite Materials
• Products made from wood particles or fibres combined with
inorganic phosphate binder
• They are formed at room temperature like cement boards
• The properties can be engineered for different purposes
 Fire retardant
 Water resistant
 Strength properties
Department of Forest and Wood Science6

22. yourknowledgepartner
SA(2015):
 >45,000 cases
 Loss of properties: R2.7 b
Motivation Geopolymer Wood Composites
o Fire incidents worsen shortage of housing globally
and cost lives
o Reconstruction & provision of new housing is
capital intensive
(FPASA,2017) (UN,2017)
World(2016):
 650m building fires
 Loss of 7 million lives

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Intro…
 High Cost & Energy intensive
 Production processes impact the environment (Bharath et al., 2014)
o Challenges with conventional construction materials
94%
(Source: Ecoinvent v2.2)
10%
94%

24. yourknowledgepartner
Intro…
o Geopolymer is a promising low cost alternative
Adapted from(Zhuang et al., 2016)

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 Highly fire and acid resistant
 High early strength development
 Reduced energy usage
 Synthesis from industrial wastes:
 Fly ash, slag, mine tailings, silica fumes
(Chen, 2014; Duan et al., 2016)
Properties of Geopolymers

26. yourknowledgepartner
Materials for geopolymer making
Alkaline Activators
Wood & Fibre
NaOH
CCR
Activators:
Wood & Fibre:
Alien invasive spp
Agric residues Industrial wastes
Geopolymer Precursors
Precursors:
Fly ash
Slag Metakaolin
Precursors:

27. yourknowledgepartner
 Improvement in waste management
 Reduction of greenhouse gas emission
 Provision of affordable building components
Impact of the research