Effect of wet blue chrome shaving and buffing dust of leather industry on the thermal conductivity of cement and plaster based materials

This paper presents an experimental study of the effect of adding leather wastes, namely chrome shavings (CS) and buffing dust (BD), on mechanical and thermal properties of cement and plaster composite specimens. Obtained results show a significant decrease of density, mechanical strength and thermal conductivity with an increase of tannery wastes content. On the other hand, experimental study has been carried out to determine thermophysical properties of hollow specimens filled with different amounts of tannery wastes and of boards separated by different mass of CS or BD. The determination of the thermal conductivity of all samples allowed us to demonstrate that the incorporation of tanned wastes in cement or plaster formulation and their use as separation or filling materials increases considerably the thermal insulation capacity. In order to avoid decrease of mechanical strength, leather wastes can be used to fill hollow specimen or to separate panels.