Product Code Database
Straw is an agricultural byproduct consisting of the dry of cereal plants after the grain and chaff have been removed. It makes up about half of the crop yield by weight of cereal crops such as barley, , rice, rye and wheat. It has a number of different uses, including fuel, livestock bedding and fodder, thatching and basket making.
Straw is usually gathered and stored in a straw bale, which is a , or bundle, of straw tightly bound with twine, wire, or string. Straw bales may be square, rectangular, star shaped or round, and can be very large, depending on the type of baler used.
The straw-filled mattress, also known as a palliasse, is still used by people in many parts of the world.
When Baler, straw has moderate insulation characteristics (about R-1.5/inch according to Oak Ridge National Lab and Forest Product Lab testing). It can be used, alone or in a post-and-beam construction, to build straw bale houses. When bales are used to build or insulate buildings, the straw bales are commonly finished with earthen plaster. The plastered walls provide some thermal mass, compressive and ductile structural strength, and acceptable fire resistance as well as thermal resistance (insulation), somewhat in excess of North American building code. Straw is an abundant agricultural waste product, and requires little energy to bale and transport for construction. For these reasons, straw bale construction is gaining popularity as part of passive solar and other renewable energy projects. The Straw Bale House: Suitability for the Eastern U.S.
Wheat straw can be used as a fibrous filler combined with polymers to produce composite lumber.
Enviroboard can be made from straw.
Strawblocks are strawbales that have been recompressed to the density of woodblocks, for compact cargo container shipment, or for straw-bale construction of load-bearing walls that support roof-loads, such as a "living" or .
They can also be used as burned area emergency response, as ground cover or as in-stream check dams.
Straw, processed first as , has been fed into a biogas plant in Aarhus University, Denmark, in a test to see if higher gas yields could be attained.
The use of straw in large-scale Energy crop is becoming mainstream in the EU, with several facilities already online. The straw is either used directly in the form of bales, or densified into pellets which allows for the feedstock to be transported over longer distances. Finally, torrefaction of straw with pelletisation is gaining attention, because it increases the energy density of the resource, making it possible to transport it still further. This processing step also makes storage much easier, because torrefied straw pellets are hydrophobic. Torrefied straw in the form of pellets can be directly co-fired with coal or natural gas at very high rates and make use of the processing infrastructures at existing coal and gas plants. Because the torrefied straw pellets have superior structural, chemical and combustion properties to coal, they can replace all coal and turn a coal plant into an entirely biomass-fed power station. First generation pellets are limited to a co-firing rate of 15% in modern IGCC plants.
Many thousands of women and children in England (primarily in the Luton district of Bedfordshire), and large numbers in the United States (mostly Massachusetts), were employed in Straw Plaiting for making hats. By the late 19th century, vast quantities of plaits were being imported to England from Canton in China, and in the United States most of the straw plait was imported.
A fiber analogous to straw is obtained from the plant Carludovica palmata, and is used to make Panama hats.
Traditional Japanese rain protection consisted of a straw hat and a mino cape.
In Japan, certain trees are wrapped with straw to protect them from the effects of a hard winter as well as to use them as a trap for parasite insects. (see Komomaki)
It is also used in ponds to reduce by changing the nutrient ratios in the water.
The soil under strawberry is covered with straw to protect the ripe berries from dirt, and straw is also used to cover the plants during winter to prevent the cold from killing them.
Straw also makes an excellent mulch.
Straw envelopes for wine bottles have become rarer, but are still to be found at some wine merchants.
Wheat straw is also used in compostable food packaging such as compostable plates. Packaging made from wheat straw can be certified compostable and will biodegrade in a commercial composting environment.Viv Biz Club: Compostable Plates
Saekki is a traditional Korean rope made of woven straw.
Koreans wear jipsin, sandals made of straw.
Several types of traditional Japanese shoes, such as waraji and zōri, are made of straw.
In some parts of Germany like Black Forest and Hunsrück people wear straw shoes at home or at carnival.
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