EFFECTIVENESS OF COCONUT FIBRE AS CEILING INSULATOR

SEM ENRICHMENT PROGRAMME
MARA JUNIOR SCIENCE COLLEGE TUN GHAFAR

BABA 2021

EFFECTIVENESS OF COCONUT FIBRE AS CEILING
INSULATOR

(ENGINEERING)
1. NURUL BALQIS BATRISYIA BINTI MOHD

SYAKRANI
2. FARISAH UMAIRAH BINTI MOHAMAD FADZIL

3. NURSYAFIZA BINTI KAMSAN

ADVISOR
PUAN FARAH NABILA BINTI MOHD HANAFIAH

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Declaration
We Nurul Balqis Batrisyia binti Mohd Syakrani,Farisah Umairah binti Mohamad
Fadzil and Nursyafiza binti Kamsan, admit that all this work is not plagiarism
from other’s work except for citation and summaries from past research that we
have state the resources.
Date: 20 February 2022
Name: Nurul Balqis Batrisyia binti Mohd Syakrani
College Number: MJ214314
Name: Farisah Umairah binti Mohamad Fadzil
College Number: MJ214094
Name: Nursyafiza binti Kamsan
College Number: MJ214300

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ACKNOWLEDGEMENT

First and foremost, we would want to praise and thank the Almighty God for
providing us with the strength and, as a result of his blessing, we were able to
complete this work. We would not have gotten this far without His blessing. Our
group members, Nurul Balqis Batrisyia binti Mohd Syakrani, Farisah Umairah binti
Mohamad Fadzil, and Nursyafiza binti Kamsan, cannot finish this assignment without
their efforts and cooperation. With our entire commitment and responsibility, we will
always try hard to create a decent assignment.

Aside from that, we would want to express our gratitude to our advisor, Puan
Farah Nabilah binti Mohd Hanafiah, because our project would not have been
possible without her guidance. She provides us with a lot of help and guidance on
our thesis and project so that we can get a decent result. Overall, our advisor has
been the most inspiring person to work with on this project.

Finally, we want to thank our parents and family members for all of their spiritual
and financial support for our project.

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ABSTRACT
THE EFFECTIVENESS OF COCONUT FIBER AS CEILING INSULATION
The weather in Malaysia is hot and humid throughout the year. heat flux
through the roof into the internal environment of home can be minimized using
ceiling insulation. In previous researches, coconut fibre is proven to be a good
ceiling insulator. However, as time goes on, innovation need to be made to
provide better insulation in the future.Therefore, styrofoam that has a high
specific heat capacity was chosen as a material for ceiling insulation in this
study. By adding styrofoam to the coconut fibre as the ceiling insulator, this
study aims to increase the ability of coconut fibre to insulate heat. This has to
be done to improvise the effectiveness of coconut fibre as ceiling insulator.in
this study, a model space is divided into two spaces of the same size. Coconut
fibre will be placed on one of the space. Another space will be placed with
coconut fibre and styrofoam. These two fibre have the same thickness. the
model space will be left under the sun for five hours.test used is based on
American Society for Testing and Materials (ASTM) standard. Result obtained
shows that value of °C from above and below region of model space. The
coconut fibre with styrofoam model has high °C than model with coconut fibre
only. This indicates that coconut fibre with styrofoam ceiling insulation has less
ability to insulate heat than coconut fibre ceiling insulation.

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ABSTRAK

KEBERKESANAN SABUT KELAPA SEBAGAI PENEBAT SILING

Cuaca di Malaysia panas dan lembap sepanjang tahun. fluks haba melalui
bumbung ke dalam persekitaran dalaman rumah boleh diminimumkan
menggunakan penebat siling. Dalam kajian terdahulu, sabut kelapa terbukti
sebagai penebat siling yang baik. Namun, seiring dengan peredaran masa,
inovasi perlu dibuat untuk menyediakan penebat yang lebih baik pada masa
hadapan.Oleh itu, styrofoam yang mempunyai muatan haba tentu yang tinggi
telah dipilih sebagai bahan penebat siling dalam kajian ini. Dengan
menambahkan styrofoam pada sabut kelapa sebagai penebat siling, kajian ini
bertujuan untuk meningkatkan keupayaan sabut kelapa untuk menebat haba.
Ini perlu dilakukan untuk menambah baik keberkesanan sabut kelapa sebagai
penebat siling. Dalam kajian ini, ruang model dibahagikan kepada dua ruang
yang sama saiz. Sabut kelapa akan diletakkan pada salah satu ruang. Satu
lagi ruang akan diletakkan dengan sabut kelapa dan styrofoam. Kedua-dua
gentian ini mempunyai ketebalan yang sama. ruang model akan dibiarkan di
bawah matahari selama lima jam.ujian yang digunakan adalah berdasarkan
piawaian American Society for Testing and Materials (ASTM). Keputusan
yang diperoleh menunjukkan bahawa nilai °C dari atas dan bawah kawasan
ruang model. Sabut kelapa dengan model styrofoam mempunyai °C yang
tinggi berbanding model dengan sabut kelapa sahaja. Ini menunjukkan sabut
kelapa dengan penebat siling styrofoam mempunyai keupayaan yang kurang
untuk menebat haba berbanding penebat siling sabut kelapa.

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TABLE OF CONTENT

CONTENTS
TABLE OF CONTENT………………………………………………………………i

CHAPTER 1………………………………………………………………………….
INTRODUCTION…………………………………………………………………….
1.1 INTRODUCTION………………………………………………………………9
1.2 PROBLEM STATEMENT……………………………………………………10
1.3 OBJECTIVE…………………………………………………………………11
1.4 SCOPE OF THE RESEARCH………………………………………………12
1.5 THESIS OUTLINE……………………………………………………………12

CHAPTER 2…………………………………………………………………………
LITERATURE REVIEW………………………………………………………………
2.1 INTRODUCTION………………………………………………………………13
2.2 COCONUT FIBRE…………………………………………………………….13
2.3 STYROFOAM………………………………………………………………13-14
2.4 CONCLUSION…………………………………………………………………14

CHAPTER 3………………………………………………………………
METHODOLOGY………………………………………………………………….
3.1 INTRODUCTION………………………………………………………………15
3.2 APPARATUS AND MATERIALS…………………………………………….15
3.3 MAKING SPACE MODEL…………………………………………………16-19
3.4 RUNNING THE TEST……………………………………………………..19-21

CHAPTER 4………………………………………………………………
RESULT………………………………………………………………
4.1 SUNLIGHT………………………………………………………………22
4.2 COMPARISON BETWEEN TEMPERATURE OF TWO LAYERS OF
COCONUT FIBER AND THE COMBINATION OF COCONUT FIBER AND
STYROFOAM……………………………………………………………….23-24

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CHAPTER 5………………………………………………………………
CONCLUSION AND DISCUSSION……………………………………………….
5.1 INTRODUCTION………………………………………………………………25
5.2 DISCUSSION………………………………………………………………25-26
5.3 IMPLICATION OF RESEARCH………………………………………………26
5.4 RECOMMENDATION…………………………………………………………26

5.4.1 DURABILITY OF COCONUT FIBRE…………………………………….26
5.5 CONCLUSION…………………………………………………………………27

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List of abbreviations

ASTM - American Society for Testing and Materials
°C -Celsius

J/kg - Joule over kilogram
K - Kelvin

List of figures

Figure 3.3.2. The cutting process of coconut fiber

Figure 3.3.3. Divided area under the roof metal deck

Figure 3.3.5 The placement of two layers of coconut fiber and the combination of
coconut fiber and styrofoam

Figure 3.3.6 The placement of model space when being exposed to sunlight

Figure 3.4.1 The measurement process of intensity of the sunlight

Figure 3.4.2 The measurement process of top temperature

Figure 3.4.3 The measurement process of bottom temperature

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CHAPTER 1

INTRODUCTION

1.1 INTRODUCTION

Glass-wool insulation is the most common type of insulation material used in
residential, commercial or industrial applications. Glass-wool is also referred to
as glass fibre insulation and is made from up to 80% recycled glass material.
The glass is melted in a furnace then sent through a spinner to create fibers.
The glass fibers in glass-wool insulation creates millions of tiny air pockets
which trap air.

The second most common used ceiling insulation is polyester insulation.
polyester insulation is manufactured from a minimum of 50% recycled pet
plastics such as drink bottles which would otherwise end up in land fill.
Polyester fibers are bonded together by heat and no binder chemicals are used.
This gives polyester its rigid, yet flexible structure. Polyester is a popular ceiling
insulation material as it contains no breathable particles and is a popular choice
for asthma or severe dust allergy home occupants.

Even so these ceiling insulation materials are recycled, in this research, we took
the initiative to make ceiling insulation with an organic material. Studies have
shown that coconut fibre is a good ceiling insulation. Therefore, coconut fibre
has been chosen for this research.

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1.2 PROBLEM STATEMENT
One of the main factors that has led to this study is the materials used in ceiling
insulators used around the world. Most of the main materials used for ceiling
insulation such as glass fibre insulation are inorganic materials. Thus, long-term
exposure to these materials may cause problems such as eyes irritation,
soreness in nose and throat and also asthma and bronchitis can be aggravated.
However, in this study, coconut fibre used is a natural fibre extracted from the
husk of coconut. These fibre is compressed to decrease the amount of dust
which can be blown into the building. An innovation also has been made to
improve the effectiveness of coconut fibre as ceiling insulation. Styrofoam
which has a high specific heat capacity is used in one of the model in this study.
styrofoam can reduce the temperature inside the building by trapping the air
and reduce the transfer of heat. Styrofoam also takes a long time to decompose
making it an eco-friendly option for ceiling insulation.

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1.3 OBJECTIVE
The objectives of this study are :

• to investigate heat transfer in a model space by using coconut fibre
insulation

• to investigate heat transfer in a model space by using coconut fibre with
styrofoam insulation

• to prove the effectiveness of coconut fibre with styrofoam than coconut
fibre only as ceiling insulation

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1.4 SCOPE OF THE RESEARCH
The scope of this research is to focused on how to upgrade the ceiling insulator used
nowadays to be better and to reduce the harm it may cause. This research is also
focused on how coconut fibre can be a good ceiling insulator. Lastly, what innovation
can be made to increase the effectiveness of coconut fibre ceiling insulation.

1.5 THESIS OUTLINE
This project is divided into five chapters. The first chapter starts with the introduction,
problem statement, objective of this study and the scope of research. Chapter two
focus on the literature review. In chapter three is the methodology of the research and
how the model is designed. Chapter four consists of the result and the discussions of
this project. Lastly, chapter five contains the conclusion about the whole project and
recommendations related to this study.

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CHAPTER 2

LITERATURE REVIEW

2.1 INTRODUCTION
The ceiling insulator nowadays is in high demand. it is because we all need a place
to live in and ceiling insulator is a basic material to build a house. According to a
research made by Alinah Binti Sulaiman, ceiling insulator can reduce energy
consumption in a house up to $60 per year. It can also reduce the greenhouse effect
up to 600 000 tan per year. Insulation is needed to minimize the heat flux to the roof
into the internal environment to reduce the temperature and energy consumption.
The main objective of this study is to compare the effectiveness of coconut fibre only
and coconut fibre with styrofoams as ceiling insulator.

2.2 COCONUT FIBRE
Abrahams Mwasha stated that coconut fibre has a thermal conductivity in the range
of 0.054-0.134 w/mk (University Of The West Indies, St. Augustine. 2019). There
are two types of coconut fibre which is brown fibre extracted from matured coconuts
and white fibre extracted form immature coconuts. Coconut fibre material offers
lower cost and ready availability. This organic material have the advantages of being
environmentally friendly and biodegradable along with possible lower processing
costs.

2.3 STYROFOAM
Styrofoam is the trademarked term used for polystyrene foam, a petroleum-based
plastic. Styrofoam is exceptionally lightweight, an excellent shock absorber and an
effective insulator, making it one of the most common plastics used in the
manufacture of packing and insulating materials.
One of the example of the uses of styrofoam is in the diamond building, energy
commission. This building is built with an insulating concrete roof which is insulated
using styrofoam board with thickness of 100mm. This is because styrofoam has a

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high specific heat capacity which helps in reducing the temperature inside the
building.
Styrofoam is mostly made of air. It traps the air in small pocket, blocking the flow of
heat energy. This reduces both conduction and convention and makes styrofoam a
good insulator.

2.4 CONCLUSION
Coconut fibre with styrofoam insulator is the best insulator compared to others. A lot
of study has been performed and all of the results has shown the efficiency of
coconut fibre insulation. By making the improvement of adding styrofoam to the
model, the efficiency can be increased. Hence, coconut fibre with styrofoam insulator
is the best choice for any organic insulation material.

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CHAPTER 3

METHODOLOGY

3.1 INTRODUCTION
We decided to carry out this project when we read about a research on the efficiency
of coconut fibre as an insulator. To this day, glass fibre insulator has been used
widely in the development and industry sector. However, there are not many
manufacturers that produce ceiling insulator with organic materials. Therefore, we
took this initiative to create an insulator and test the effectiveness of coconut fibre
ceiling insulator. We also think that an improvement can be made in our project.
Hence, we create a model and separate it into two space to test the effectiveness of
100% coconut fibre insulator and coconut fibre insulator which has been improved.

3.2 APPARATUS AND MATERIALS
For this project, we try to use only recycled goods except the materials for the
insulator.
Apparatus:

1. used wood chair
2. roof metal deck
3. screws
4. infrared thermometer
5. solar meter

Materials:
1. coconut fibre
2. styrofoam

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3.3 MAKING SPACE MODEL
The making of the model space is very low-budget as we use recycled items
for most of the apparatus.
1. Prepare all of the materials and apparatus. Refer the previous page for

the list of equipments.
2. Cut the coconut fibre into three pieces with same size.

Figure 3.3.2 The cutting process of coconut fiber
3. Divide the area under the roof metal deck into two spaces.

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Figure 3.3.3 Divided area under the roof metal deck
4. Place two layers of coconut fibre (20 mm) in the first space.
5. Place a layer of coconut fibre (10 mm) and a layer of styrofoam (10 mm)

in the second space

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Figure 3.3.5 The placement of two layers of coconut fiber and the combination of
coconut fiber and styrofoam

6. Place the roof metal deck which contain the coconut fibre and styrofoam
on top of the used wood chair.

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Figure 3.3.6 The placement of model space when being exposed to sunlight
3.4 RUNNING THE TEST

We let the model space exposed to the sun from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m.
1. Every hour, intensity of the sunlight is measured by using solar meter.

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Figure 3.4.1 The measurement process of intensity of the sunlight
2. The top temperature of both two layers of coconut fiber and the combination

of coconut fiber and styrofoam is measured by using infrared thermometer.
Figure 3.4.2 The measurement process of top temperature

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3. The bottom temperature of both two layers of coconut fiber and the
combination of coconut fiber and styrofoam is measured by using infrared
thermometer.

Figure 3.4.3 The measurement process of bottom temperature

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CHAPTER 4
RESULT

4.1 SUNLIGHT
Intensity of sunlight is measured from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. every hour by solar
meter.

Figure 4.1 Intensity of Sunlight

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4.2 COMPARISON BETWEEN TEMPERATURE OF TWO LAYERS OF
COCONUT FIBER AND THE COMBINATION OF COCONUT FIBER AND
STYROFOAM

Figure 4.2 Temperature of two layers of coconut fiber and the
combination of coconut fiber and styrofoam
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Figure 4.2 illustrates the different temperature (top and bottom) between
two layers of coconut fiber and the combination of coconut fiber and
styrofoam after being exposed to sunlight from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. The result
shows that bottom temperature of two layers of coconut fiber has lower
temperature than the bottom temperature of the combination of coconut
fiber and styrofoam.
This phenomenon is due to lower specific heat capacity of the
combination of coconut fiber and styrofoam. Unlike two layers of coconut
fiber that has higher specific heat capacity, results in lower temperature.
The specific heat capacity of coconut fibre is 2600 J/kg K while the
specific heat capacity of styrofoam is 1131 J/kg K.
Based on physics concept, object with low specific heat capacity absorbs
heat faster and will result in higher increment of temperature. On the other
hand, object with high specific heat capacity absorbs heat slower and will
result in lower increment of temperature.

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CHAPTER 5

CONCLUSION AND DISCUSSION

5.1 INTRODUCTION
In this chapter, we will discuss about our prototype and assess whether it
achieves our objectives. In addition, we will consider some improvement that can
be applied to the actual product used for innovation

5.2 DISCUSSION
As we completed the project, we will check whether our main objectives
achieved. The main objectives of this project is:-

• to investigate heat transfer in a model space by using coconut fibre
insulation

• to investigate heat transfer in a model space by using coconut fibre with
styrofoam insulation

• to prove the effectiveness of coconut fibre with styrofoam than coconut
fibre only as ceiling insulation

The experiment revealed that we were able to achieve two of the three
objectives, namely that we discovered that both coconut fibre and
styrofoam can be good heat insulators. Despite this, styrofoam is less
heat resistant than coconut fibre. As a result, the combination of coconut
fibre and styrofoam resulted in a lower heat capacity than using only
double the amount of coconut fibre. According to the experiment results,
there was no significant difference between coconut fibre and styrofoam.
We also discovered that the budget for styrofoam is lower than the
budget for coconut fibre, which is RM 18 for 60 x 40 cm of coconut fibre
and RM 4.98 for styrofoam. However, coconut fibre has a significant
environmental impact. According to some experts, the decomposition of
styrofoam can take up to 500 years. As a result, our country became
polluted. To summarise, our third goal, which is to demonstrate the
performance of coconut fibre with styrofoam rather than coconut fibre

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simply as a ceiling insulator, was not met, however coconut fibre is a
better heat insulator for ceiling insulation.

5.3 IMPLICATION OF RESEARCH

If this product is capable of being produced and can be marketed to the
public, this product can be beneficial to roofing construction company out
there. This is due to the contractor's ability to employ ecologically friendly heat
insulators, which are popular in today's culture. this product is also able to
give an impact to the farmers of our country to increase their income by not
relying on the fruit but other parts of the coconut tree can be used.

Furthermore, agricultural waste, such as coconut fibre, may be decreased
since it is used to produce more usable commodities.

5.4 RECOMMENDATION

Since the model space is ready and work well, we found that our product
need some improvement. We have some suggestions for the next innovation
which is this prototype need to be test in terms of durability of coconut fibre at
the roof, how long the coconut fiber can last and the duration of the coconut
fiber still efficient to insulate heat.

5.4.1 DURABILITY OF COCONUT FIBRE
Due to several constraints during covid-19, we were unable to assure that
the coconut fibre could remain stationary on the roof. We recommend that for
future innovation, we perform a coconut fibre endurance experiment to see
how well the fibre can resist different weather conditions. Coconut fibre is a
combustible substance, as everyone is aware. As a result, we propose that
the coconut fibre be improved by coating it with fire-retardant paint. Due of our
limited mobility, we are unable to accomplish this. Due to the limited time
available to conduct this experiment, we were unable to make observations
on the length of time coconut fibre could remain on the roof. We were also
unable to make long-term observations on the efficacy of coconut fibre.

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5.5 CONCLUSION
Finally, this prototype is capable of performing well. Nevertheless, if a
future innovation is to be promoted in general, there are many aspects
that might be improved. Based on our research, we still believe that
coconut fibre may be employed as an excellent natural thermal insulator.

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References
Khaw W. Chuen., Chia W. Qian, Chong C. Hwa*, Mohammad H.
Fouladi,2015, Effect Of Using Coconut Fibre And Polypropylene For
Thermal Insulation In A Flat Plate Collector
N.J. Rodríguez,2011, Assessment of coconut fibre insulation
characteristics and its use to modulate temperatures in concrete slabs
with the aid of a finite element methodology
Joseph Iwaro,2019, Effects of Using Coconut Fiber-Insulated Masonry
Walls to Achieve Energy Efficiency and Thermal Comfort in Residential
Dwellings
https://www.vedantu.com/question-answer/specific-heat-capacity-of-
styrofoam-class-11-physics-cbse-6077d5730b71d94f91a78542
https://sciencing.com/physical-properties-styrofoam-6141481.html

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