Everyone has the image of their dream house in their head. There’d be a huge garden, three bedrooms, a huge kitchen and so on… However, have you ever thought about a chimney? It’s one of the most important parts of a house, yet not many of us pay attention to it, or the way it affects their lives and the ecosystem. But we should. A chimney has always been associated with heavy smoke and dirtiness, and for a good reason. The process of industrialisation focused on the process of production but not on its consequences — huge pollution.
Luckily, nowadays we are far more eco-conscious. The fight for cleaner air has been going on for some time and it looks like we’re going to get a win. That is thanks to the joint efforts of Jawar and the Opole University of Technology, possible thanks to the funding provided by the National Centre for Research and Development (NCBR).
Jawar, based in Ciechanów, specialises in the production of chimney ceramics manufactured according to the modern technology of isostatic pressing. The three-year R&D programme isn’t their first rodeo, either. Jawar has been researching innovative methods of evaluating the thermal efficiency of their products.
Now, they’re teaming up with the Opole University of Technology to create a more ecological chimney for ecological and passive designs. The R&D programme started in April, thanks to NCBR’s money, and it will last three years. The team will be led by Krzysztof Drożdżol, a lecturer at the Opole University of Technology. Their aim is to create a perlite concrete heat recovery unit for solid fuels by Q1 2021.
What does it mean for us, the users? First of all, the risk of carbon monoxide poisoning is eliminated. Secondly, the house is not cooled down by air taken straight from the outside. So, you can see for yourself how important that programme is.
First, the team will be working on the building material. It needs to be resilient, fully insulating, as well as light. Next comes the design of the air brick. Afterwards, they need to test the functionality of the cowl and other elements of the construction. The last phase will include building the prototype, testing and improving it, and, finally, it’ll be ready for certification and entering the market as the updated version of Jawar Nord system.
The tests carried out using that system showed a much lower dust emission. That means less pollution and health risks. Jawar Nord also increases the heat recovery by 5 per cent. Those results encouraged the team to continue this project and increase the heat recovery up to 10 or more per cent.
“Due to Nord’s great potential, and the surprising results of our recent research, we decided to start working on the second generation of the chimney. It will be more effective and safe than its predecessor,” said Paweł Jarzyński Ph. D., CEO Jawar.
Let’s keep our fingers crossed for them! NCBR is Impact’18 Partner. You can’t miss it — register here! See you on June 13th & 14th in Krakow!
