Hydrophilic mineral wool: a perspective material for desalination of historical buildings

摘要

Experimental testing of the application potential of hydrophilic mineral wool for desalination of historical masonry is presented in the paper. The capability of hydrophilic mineral wool to transport rapidly water and salt solutions as the necessary condition for its possible application for desalination measures is studied first using sorptivity measurements. Then, the process of desalination of ceramic brick (as typical material frequently used in historical buildings) using external water-saturated hydrophilic mineral wool board is monitored to analyze the practical applicability of the proposed desalination treatment. Experimental results show that the applied hydrophilic mineral wool is able to remove almost 15 % of the whole amount of chlorides contained in the first 30 mm of the underlying brick during just the first 24 hours.