Straw from agriculture (barley, oats, oilseed rape, triticale) as raw material for loose-fill thermal insulation – raw and processed data

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DATASET: Analysis of the Possible Use of Straw from Agriculture as an
Environmental Insulation Material in Buildings - Raw and Processed Data
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1. GENERAL INFORMATION
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Associated publication:
Peterková, J.; Korjenic, A.; Zach, J.; Bydžovský, J.; Halásová, S.;
Sesto, E. (2025). Analysis of the Possible Use of Straw from
Agriculture as an Environmental Insulation Material in Buildings.
Sustainability, 17(8), 3589.
DOI: https://doi.org/10.3390/su17083589

Associated projects:
Study of the hygroaccumulative effect of natural based materials
and their influence on the moisture stability of the indoor
environment of buildings
Austrian Science Fund (FWF) [https://doi.org/10.55776/I6398]
Grant DOI: 10.55776/I6398 | Project number: I 6398-N
Czech Science Foundation | Project number: 23-06542K
Project 8J23AT012: Study of heat and moisture transport in the
structure of materials based on natural and secondary fibers

Dataset authors:

  Name                       Affiliation                       ORCID
  -------------------------  --------------------------------  --------------------
  Jitka Peterková            Brno University of Technology      0000-0002-5545-4515
  Azra Korjenic              TU Wien                            0000-0002-2904-9532
  Jiří Zach                  Brno University of Technology      0000-0002-0426-8317
  Jiří Bydžovský             Brno University of Technology      -
  Simona Halásová            Brno University of Technology      -
  Eldira Sesto               TU Wien                            -

Contact for questions about this dataset:
Jitka Peterková (Brno University of Technology): jitka.peterkova@vut.cz

License (data, documentation, metadata): CC BY 4.0 (Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International)
https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/
License (code in scripts/): MIT License (see scripts/LICENSE.txt)

2. SHORT DESCRIPTION
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This dataset contains the measurement data of a study on straw of four
crops (barley, oats, oilseed rape, triticale) as raw material for
loose-fill thermal insulation. The straw was pre-cut to about 3 cm and
pulped in a knife mill at seven combinations of grinding frequency
(2000-10,000 rpm) and grinding time (30-120 s). For every sample the loose
density and the particle size distribution (sieve analysis) were
determined; the mean particle size and the proportion of fine particles
were calculated. The samples pulped at 4000 rpm for 60 s were selected
for the thermal conductivity measurement (loose and compacted state).
The chemical composition of the four straws (moisture, ash, cellulose,
hemicellulose, lignin) is also included.

3. METHODOLOGY (summary - see publication Section 2 for full details)
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- Preparation: mechanical pulping in a FRITSCH Pulverisette 11 knife
  mill (see metadata/straw_sample_overview.csv for the 28 samples).

- Chemical analysis: moisture with a drying balance; ash (Tappi T 211
  om-02); cellulose (Kuerschner-Hoffer); hemicellulose (Wise); lignin
  (Klason, Tappi T 222 om-11).

- Loose density: container filled to the rim, excess removed with a
  steel ruler, three weighings per sample (EN 1097-3 as substitute).

- Sieve analysis: sieve column (31.5 / 16 / 8 / 4 / 2 / 1 / 0.5 / 0.2 /
  0.125 mm and pan), shaking table for 1 min (EN 933-1 as substitute).
  Mean particle size = sum of mesh size x residue fraction.

- Thermal conductivity: heat flow meter Lambda 2300 (EN 12667,
  ISO 8301), mean temperature 10 degrees C, temperature difference 10 K,
  samples conditioned at 23 degrees C / 50 % RH; 3 measurements of the loose
  sample and 3 of the sample compacted in an XPS frame.

4. FILE DESCRIPTION
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Note: Due to repository constraints, all files are provided within
a single ZIP archive to preserve the folder
structure described below. The README itself is additionally
provided as a separate, unpacked file for quick reference.
A column-by-column description of all data files (names, meaning,
units) is given in metadata/data_dictionary.csv.

README.txt                             - this file
LICENSE.txt                            - full text of CC BY 4.0 (data, documentation, metadata)

metadata/
  data_dictionary.csv                  - description and unit of every column of every data file
  equipment_list.csv                   - details of experimental hardware used
  known_data_anomalies_notes.txt       - notes for interpretation (deviations from the publication, conventions)
  materials_list.csv                   - the four straw types
  requirements.txt                     - python environment dependencies
  standards_applied.txt                - overview of standards applied or referenced
  straw_sample_overview.csv            - the 28 samples with designation in the publication, grinding frequency and time (Table 3)

raw_data/
  straw_characterization/
    straw_chemical_composition.csv     - moisture, ash, cellulose, hemicellulose and lignin content (Table 2)
    straw_loose_density.csv            - weights of the three replicates and container volume
    straw_sieve_analysis.csv           - sample mass and mass retained on each sieve
  thermal_insulation/
    straw_thermal_conductivity.csv     - dimensions, weight and three conductivity measurements (loose and compacted)

processed_data/
  loose_density.csv                    - loose density per sample (Table 4)
  sieve_analysis.csv                   - residue and cumulative passing per sieve (Figures 7-10, A1-A6)
  particle_size_summary.csv            - mean particle size (Table 5) and passing at 2 mm / 1 mm (Table 6, Figures 11-13)
  thermal_conductivity_summary.csv     - density and mean thermal conductivity (Table 7, Figure 14)
  paper_tables_summary.csv             - values of the publication's tables with the file each value was calculated in
  calculation/
    calc_straw_loose_density.xlsx      - mean weight and loose density (rho = m / V)
    calc_straw_sieve_analysis.xlsx     - residue, cumulative passing, mean particle size; sheet particle_size_summary
    calc_straw_thermal_conductivity.xlsx - density and mean thermal conductivity

scripts/
  LICENSE.txt                          - MIT License (code in this folder)
  evaluation.ipynb                     - reads raw_data/, calculates all derived quantities, writes the CSV files in
                                         processed_data/ and compares the results with the Excel workbooks

5. HOW TO CITE
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When reusing this dataset, please cite the associated publication:

  Peterková, J. et al. (2025). Analysis of the Possible Use of Straw
  from Agriculture as an Environmental Insulation Material in
  Buildings. Sustainability, 17(8), 3589.
  https://doi.org/10.3390/su17083589

6. FUNDING ACKNOWLEDGEMENT
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This research was funded within a bilateral research project between
the Czech Republic and Austria: Czech Science Foundation (23-06542K)
and Austrian Science Fund (FWF) [https://doi.org/10.55776/I6398],
and by project 8J23AT012.

7. DATA TO SCRIPT / CALCULATION MAPPING
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Run scripts/evaluation.ipynb from the folder scripts/ (relative paths,
python environment in metadata/requirements.txt). It needs only the
files in raw_data/ and metadata/straw_sample_overview.csv and writes all CSV files in
processed_data/ except the Excel workbooks in processed_data/calculation/, which contain the same
calculations as live formulas. The last cell of the notebook compares both.

   Raw data (CSV in /raw_data/)                Calculation workbook / result file (/processed_data/)       Paper
   ------------------------------------------  ----------------------------------------------------------  ----------------
   straw_chemical_composition.csv              (reported directly)                                         Table 2
   straw_loose_density.csv                     calculation/calc_straw_loose_density.xlsx,                  Table 4, Fig. 6
                                               loose_density.csv
   straw_sieve_analysis.csv                    calculation/calc_straw_sieve_analysis.xlsx,                 Tables 5, 6,
                                               sieve_analysis.csv, particle_size_summary.csv               Figs. 7-13, A1-A6
   straw_thermal_conductivity.csv              calculation/calc_straw_thermal_conductivity.xlsx,           Table 7, Fig. 14
                                               thermal_conductivity_summary.csv

   Table 1 (literature values), Table 3 (see metadata/straw_sample_overview.csv) and Figures 1-5
   contain no further measurement data.