Rice Straw Fiber Biocomposites Potentials in Contemporary Architecture

Abstract

Compared to synthetic fibers, natural fibers have many advantages such as renewability, availability, low cost, biodegradability, non-toxicity and other excellent properties. Rice Straw Fiber (RSF) is considered to be an important but still abundant natural fiber when compared to other known industrial natural fibers like jute, kenaf and hemp. Inspite of the fact that RSF is considered one of the highest biomasses in the world, it still lacks much more deep research to investigate all its possible potentials in different industrial fields, especially in the building industry. On the other hand and as a result, this fibre with all its potentials is still illegally burnt in huge amounts worldwide causing extreme environmental damage as it's still considered an agricultural "waste", much more than a "resource" of its own. Thus, the main objective of this paperwork is to highlight the potentials of rice straw fiber as an active filler together with its reinforcement activities in biocomposites as well as the "as -is" method of using this fibre in its raw form in direct building applications that should be also discussed. This will be achieved through the analysis and synthesis of a number of technologies, examples and applications of rice straw fiber composite materials. In addition, different technologies used in the industrialization of such biocomposites will be illustrated according to the outcome product reached, and categorized.