Journal of Cleaner Production 267 (2020) 122202

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Journal of Cleaner Production

journal homepage: www.elsevier.com/locate/jclepro

Natural, bio-based, colored linoleum: Design, preparation,

characteristics and preliminary life cycle assessment
Federica Rosso a, *, Anna Laura Pisello b, Ilaria Pigliautile c, Gianluca Cavalaglio b,
Valentina Coccia b
a
Sapienza University of Rome, Dept. of Civil, Construction and Environmental Engineering (DICEA), Via Eudossiana 18, 00184, Roma, Italy
b
University of Perugia, Dept. of Engineering, Via Goffredo Duranti, 93, 06125, Perugia, Italy
c
CIRIAF Interuniversity Research Centre on Pollution and Environment Mauro Felli, Via G. Duranti 63, 06125, Perugia, Italy

a r t i c l e i n f o a b s t r a c t

Article history: Bio-based construction elements and materials are undergoing a wide diffusion due to the growing
Received 26 November 2019 attention for limiting the environmental impact of the construction sector nowadays. Following this
Received in revised form trend towards increased sustainability in buildings and their components, here a novel bio-based lino-
1 May 2020
leum, colored by means of bio-based pigments is investigated. The linoleum design and development are
Accepted 11 May 2020
Available online 15 May 2020
presented, and the different samples are characterized with respect to optics, thermal and acoustic
properties. Moreover, a life cycle assessment (LCA) is carried out to assess the impact of the material on
Handling Editor: Jing Meng environment and human health. Possible applications are then discussed. Findings demonstrate that the
natural pigments are able to effectively color the linoleum. Solar reflectance of the samples falls between
Keywords: 28.8% and 42.7%, while thermal conductivity varies between 0.28 and 0.37 W/mK and acoustic ab-
Linoleum sorption coefficient is around 0.5 and varies the peak frequencies with respect to the thickness of the air
Bio-based construction material layer behind the sample. Finally, the investigated sample of natural pigment reduces the impact cate-
Bio-based pigments gories on the environment by up to 94.1% through its life cycle, with respect to same-color synthetic
Thermal-optic characterization
pigments.
Acoustic absorption
© 2020 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.
LCA

1. Introduction composed of natural and easily disposable materials, which can be

Linoleum was invented in the 19th century as a no-joints
flooring material, composed of linseed oil, resin, powdered wood
and limestone, colored pigments and jute textile material (Jo €nsson
et al., 1997; Walton, 1899). It is traditionally employed as a flooring
material for high-traffic areas, such as industrial, sport and office
facilities, but it is also utilized in the residential sector (Forbo
Floring Systems, 2020.; Gerflor the flooring group, 2020; Tarkett,
2020). After being patented in 1863, this material experienced a
great diffusion in the 20th century among architects of the modern
movement (e.g. Bauhaus architects among which Mies van der
Rohe), due to its practicality and innovativeness. In the last decades,
due to the growing interest towards natural and bio-based mate-
rials for the construction sector (Cabeza et al., 2018; Castaldo et al.,
2015; Orsini and Marrone, 2019; Pisello and Rosso, 2015), linoleum
is undergoing renewed interest: it is, indeed, almost entirely
* Corresponding author.
E-mail address: federica.rosso@uniroma1.it (F. Rosso).
partially recycled to be employed again. This is the main difference
with vinyl flooring (Jo €nsson et al., 1997), which is often confused
with linoleum due to similar aspect and commercial application,
but is instead synthetic and mainly composed of polyvinyl chloride
(PVC).
Linoleum has been investigated in the past years, even if the
literature base is not extensive on the topic. Scopus database was
able to retrieve 64 manuscripts focused on linoleum (with the word
“linoleum” in the title), while 318 works mention “linoleum” in
either the title, abstract or keywords. Of the above mentioned
corpus, studies were conducted with respect to indoor air quality
and volatile organic compounds emissions (VOC) of linoleum
flooring (Jensen et al., 1995b, 1995a; Salimifard et al., 2017); on the
effect of linoleum and other cushioning materials on discomfort
and fatigue of standing users (Speed et al., 2018); and on properties
and characteristics of linoleum, in terms of durability and me-
chanical resistance (Carvalho et al., 2018; Dilik and Hiziroglu, 2015).
Many studies were conducted on the life cycle assessment (LCA) of
the investigated flooring material, comparing it with other floor

https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jclepro.2020.122202
0959-6526/© 2020 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.
2 F. Rosso et al. / Journal of Cleaner Production 267 (2020) 122202
covering options, such as vinyl, solid wood flooring, and carpet
(Gorre e et al., 2002; Jo
€nsson et al., 1997; Potting and Blok, 1995).
Results show that in general linoleum is more environmentally
favorable than carpet and vinyl, while solid wood flooring is more
environmentally-friendly than linoleum but this finding is very
sensitive to the wood typology and finishing. However, with
respect to solid wood flooring, linoleum demonstrates to be more
convenient under the point of view of environmentally hazardous
substances (Jo € nsson et al., 1997).
The above-mentioned works, which are dated back to
1995e2002, underline the non-negligible impact of linoleum
colored pigments on the LCA. According to Jo € nsson et al. (1997),
30% of electricity usage in linoleum production is due to titanium
dioxide pigment production, thus indicating the weight of such
component in the energy use of the material. The sensitivity
analysis performed by Gorre e et al. (2002) demonstrated that the
utilization of pigments other than titanium dioxide (in this case, red
and yellow pigments) can result in the increase of certain impact
categories, such as aquatic and sediment toxicity (up to 200%), odor,
oxidation formation, depletion, global warming, human toxicity.
Therefore, pigments’ choice, alone, is able to significantly modify
the impact of the linoleum on the environment.
In this view, the optimization of such component of the lino-
leum mix appears as a fundamental step for improving the sus-
tainability of linoleum and its production. To this aim, natural
pigments extracted from plants were investigated in this research,
as sustainable components for the linoleum material improvement
in its environmental performance.
2. Purpose of the work
Pigments have been employed since ancient times, and were
extracted from plants or derived from animals. Before the synthetic
pigments’ diffusion, mineral or biological pigments were employed,
and the range of possible colors was reduced. One notable example
concerns the Phoenicians that more than 1000 years BCE were
famous for the production of purpura, the Phoenician purple or
Royal purple (McGovern and Michel, 1985). The purpura pigment
was extracted from the mucus of sea-snails. After the first industrial
revolution, synthetic pigments obtained from the refinement and
manufacturing of natural materials saw a great expansion. The
chemical and industrial process in this production was one of the
main factors leading to an increase in toxicity and odor of the
linoleum, as evidenced in the environmental profile that emerged
from the life cycle assessment (Gorre e et al., 2002). The linoleum
material would, otherwise, be natural and more sustainable. The
development and design of plant-based, natural pigments is
motivated by these considerations, towards the implementation of
a natural-based and natural-colored linoleum material. Therefore,
the subject of this research is the design, implementation and
overall characterization of an innovative, sustainable linoleum for
indoor applications. The design of the linoleum consists of the
development of the different plant-based pigments that are
employed in the linoleum surface layer, as well as the design of the
linoleum composite. Samples are developed in the laboratory and
characterized in terms of optic, thermal and acoustic
characteristics.
This study contributes to the branch of research investigating
natural construction materials (Asdrubali et al., 2015; Madurwar
et al., 2013; Pisello and Rosso, 2015; Rosso et al., 2016b; Rouilly
and Vaca-Garcia, 2015), towards decreasing the environmental
impact of the construction sector (Cabeza et al., 2013; Orsini and
Marrone, 2019). Many studies investigated natural materials for
thermal insulation (Liu et al., 2017; Pennacchio et al., 2017; Pisello
and Rosso, 2015; Schiavoni et al., 2016), as well as for external
envelope application (Claramunt et al., 2016; Rosso et al., 2018;
Rosso et al., 2014; Torres-Rivas et al., 2018; Zea Escamilla and
Habert, 2014), or as load bearing elements (Cascone et al., 2019;
Serrano et al., 2016c, 2016b, 2016a), or for external paving appli-
cation (Lu et al., 2019). Natural-based materials for building in-
teriors are less discussed in the literature with respect to their optic,
thermal and acoustic characteristics, while their role in affecting
indoor wellbeing and air quality is acknowledged (Harb et al.,
2018). Indeed, interior finishing is majorly investigated in terms
of indoor air quality, as to assess the amount of Volatile Organic
Compounds (VOC) that are released in the indoor environment.
This is not the scope of this research: our aim is to consider the
optic-thermal and acoustic properties of the investigated innova-
tive linoleum, in order to optimize its utilization and application in
buildings, as well as to consider its sustainability with respect to the
environmental impact. The life cycle assessment (LCA) analyses
that were developed with respect to linoleum are dated
(1980e2000): in addition to performing an updated LCA study, the
original contribution of this work is the consideration of innovative,
plant-based pigments for the linoleum mix, to improve the gap
underlined in previous research about the pigment role in wors-
ening the linoleum impact on the environment. Therefore, a pre-
liminary LCA was also conducted towards an effective
quantification of the environmental performance of such new, in-
lab-developed material, which is expected to improve its environ-
mental performance especially thanks to the more sustainable bio-
base pigment prototype. Finally, indications about possible appli-
cations and future development of this research are hypothesized.
3. Materials and methods
The pigments are initially designed and prepared to be mixed in
the linoleum mix. Then, the linoleum is produced by applying the
linoleum cement on the textile Jute backing. Once the linoleum is
ready, samples of different natural-based colors are tested in lab,
investigating optic, thermal and acoustic characteristics. Measured
data are analyzed by means of statistical analysis. Finally, a LCA is
conducted to verify the effectiveness of the investigated pigments
in increasing the sustainability of linoleum, focusing on one of the
pigments and comparing it with same-color synthetic pigment. In
the following sections, each step of the above-mentioned meth-
odology is described in detail.
3.1. Pigments
The objectives in designing the colored mix are to obtain colored
pigments:
(i) able to be extracted from natural materials;
(ii) with no need to be mixed with metals or other substances to
be employed;
(iii) able to be extracted from commonly available vegetation.
Pigments are thus extracted from different plants, locally
available in Central Italy, to obtain different colors. The European
smoketree, cotinus coggygria is employed to extract yellow pigment
from the leaves. A blue pigment is extracted from woad leaves, isatis
tinctoria. Finally, from the roots of Rubia, known as madder, a red
pigment is obtained (Fig. 1).
To obtain the pigments, the leaves of the cotinus coggygria are
crushed and then boiled in water for 1 h. Then, the obtained mix is
filtered so as to separate the solid and the liquid part. The yellow
pigment is finally obtained by means of spray-dryer method (Venil
et al., 2015).
The blue pigment is obtained by leaving the woad leaves in
 F. Rosso et al. / Journal of Cleaner Production 267 (2020) 122202 3

Fig. 2. Linoleum samples in different colors. (For interpretation of the references to

color in this figure legend, the reader is referred to the Web version of this article.)

Fig. 1. Plants and extracted pigment: from left, cotinus coggygria-smoketree and the
extracted yellow pigment; isatis tinctoria-woad and the extracted blue pigment; rubia- - A reference sample, without any pigment, but identical to the
madder and the extracted red pigment. (For interpretation of the references to color in others in all the other components (Ref), for comparison pur-
this figure legend, the reader is referred to the Web version of this article.) poses. The color of the Ref sample is light brown and is given by
the mix of linoleum components;
- Lignin sample (LB), which is darker than Ref, brown colored;
water at ambient temperature for 24 h. Once the leaves are
- Woad/blue sample (WB), which assumes a greenish color due to
removed, air is blown in the water to form foam. The pH of the
the mix of the blue pigment with the yellowish color of the
solution has to be maintained on 9e10 value, by adding 2 mol of
wood and cork flour;
potassium hydroxide (KOH). Finally, the formed foam is collected
- Woad/blue sample, as the above, but with the addition of TiO2 to
with a spatula and dried.
the linoleum mix, for comparison purposes (WBTiO2);
The madder roots are dried and crushed, and the pigment is
- Madder/red sample (MR);
extracted by boiling (80
C, for 2 h) the roots in the water, and then
- Madder/red sample, as the above, but with the addition of TiO2
leaving the solution to cool down and decanting. The precipitation
to the linoleum mix, for comparison purposes (MRTiO2);
of the red pigment is obtained by adding potassium alum and so-
- Smoke tree/yellow sample (SY);
dium hydroxide and then leaving it to dry.
- Smoke tree/yellow sample, with a higher pigments’ percentage
Finally, the dark brown lignin pigment derives from the above-
(SYþ);
mentioned plants, by using the lignin that is a byproduct after the
production of the pigments and from other in-lab experiments on
bio-fuels (Cotana et al., 2014). It is obtained by drying the byproduct
in a stove at 60
C, and then crushing the resulting material to 3.3. Optic characterization
obtain the lignin powder.
The above described linoleum samples are investigated with
3.2. Development of the composites respect to their intrinsic characteristics. In terms of optic charac-
terization, a colorimetric analysis is carried out by means of
As for pigments’ design objectives, also for the linoleum mix, the colorimeter, to determine the color space coordinates of each
aim of the design is to employ natural-based components as much linoleum sample (L*a*b*). Then, solar reflectance and absorbance
as possible, that would allow to diminish the linoleum impact on are measured according to the standard method defined by ASTM
the environment, based on previous research (Jo € nsson et al., 1997). E903 (American Society for Testing and Materials, 2010a) by means
Indeed, both pigments and the other components derive from of spectrophotometer (Solidspec 3700, Shimadzu, Japan). The
natural materials, such as linseed oil and pine resin. Titanium di- reflectance is measured in the 300e2500 nm wavelength interval,
oxide is employed only for comparison purposes, as discussed and it allows to determine the total solar reflectance, and to specify
below. Once the pigments are ready, the linoleum is developed in the reflectance in the ultraviolet (UV, 300e380 nm), visible (Vis,
the lab: the components of the linoleum are linseed oil (75%), pine 380e780 nm) and near-infrared regions of the spectrum (NIR,
resin (20%), calcium carbonate (5%), cork and wood flour and jute. 780e2500).
The following process allows to obtain the flooring and coating Comparisons are implemented among the samples, and in
material: particular the addition of TiO2 pigments is evaluated. Comparisons
are set: WB and WBTiO2, MR and MRTiO2 samples are compared
- Calcium carbonate, linseed oil and pine resin are mixed for
20e24 h under hot air stream (80
C) to dry, for the oxidation
Table 1
phase; Linoleum samples that were prepared in lab.
- Wood and cork flour are added to the viscous mix, as well as the
Linoleum sample Acronym Pigments % Sample color
pigments. Here, the linoleum cement is formed;
- The cement is stretched out on the jute cloth and pressed. The Ref. Sample Ref 0.0 Light Brown
Lignin LB 4.0 Brown
obtained material is dried at 80
C to become the finished
Woad-blue WB 4.0 Dark blue-green
linoleum product (Fig. 2). Woad þ TiO2-blue WBTiO2 4.0 Dark blue-green
Madder-red MR 4.0 Dark red
The resulting samples are described below, where the pigments’ Madder þ TiO2-red MRTiO2 4.0 Dark red
percentage corresponds to 4% in weight, if not differently specified Smoke tree-yellow SY 4.0 Yellow-ochre
Smoke tree þ -yellow SYþ 8.0 Yellow-ochre
(Table 1):
4 F. Rosso et al. / Journal of Cleaner Production 267 (2020) 122202
and statistical analysis about the impact of TiO2 on optic charac-
teristics is carried out. In addition, pigment content variation - from
4% to 8% - in the mix is considered for the SY, by comparing SY and
SYþ.
3.4. Thermal characterization
A set of measurements is performed to investigate thermal
characteristics of the linoleum. In particular, thermal emissivity is
assessed by means of emissometer (Emissometer, Devices and
Services, USA), according to standard ASTM C1371-04 (American
Society for Testing and Materials, 2010b).
Thermal conductivity and diffusivity are measured according to
ISO 2207 (International Organization for Standardization, 2015), by
means of hot disk TPS 2500 S (Hot Disk AB, Sweden). Similarly to
optic characteristics analyses, also for thermal measurements sta-
tistical analyses are conducted to verify the impact of TiO2 and
pigment percentage on linoleum properties.
3.5. Acoustic characterization
Acoustic characterization is carried out by means of impedance
tube (Bruel & Kjaer, 4260 model, 50 Hze6.4 kHz), according to ISO
10534-2 standard (ISO, 1998). In detail, the normal incidence ab-
sorption coefficient of the sample is assessed in lab by measuring
the sound pressure in two fixed positions and then computing the
transfer function between them. Thus, the reflection and absorp-
tion coefficients are obtained. This process is repeated by consid-
ering different air layer thicknesses behind the sample itself, i.e., 0,
1 and 2 cm, in order to assess the absorption coefficient of the
material once applied as absorption panel in the indoors as fin-
ishing cover for ceilings, walls etc. Indeed, the thicker the air layer,
the lower the frequencies for the absorption coefficient. For each
investigated configuration, i.e. 0, 1, 2 cm air gap thickness, four
measurements are carried out and the presented results concern
the achieved average values.
3.6. LCA
A life cycle assessment analysis (LCA) is carried out to verify the
impact of this kind of natural pigment on the environment. In
detail, one of the pigments, the yellow-colored one (extracted from
cotinus coggygria) is chosen to be compared with a traditional
yellow pigment, the cadmium sulfide yellow. The LCA that is con-
ducted in this study is framed here. The presented LCA is motivated
by the existing articles about the life cycle assessment of linoleum,
which are not numerous (Gorre e et al., 2002; Jo
€ nsson et al., 1997;
Potting and Blok, 1995) and are described in sections 1 and 2.
Following the structure of the above-mentioned works, the goal
and scope of the performed LCA are described, as well as the in-
ventory analysis. Then, the impact assessment is presented and
discussed in the results section.
3.6.1. Goal definition and scoping
The goal of the LCA is to assess the environmental impact of 1 kg
of bio-based natural pigment (SY), and to compare its impact with
that of the same-color, artificial pigment (CdS). In particular, the
yellow bio-based pigment extracted from cotinus coggygria (SY) is
considered as indicative of the in-lab developed pigments, while
cadmium sulfide yellow (CdS) is taken into account as indicative
traditional pigment. In this LCA, while the findings are related to
the investigated pigment, we argue that similar results can be
assumed for the other bio-based and corresponding synthetic
pigments. Indeed, the process to obtain the bio-based pigments is
consistent for the considered samples. At the same time, synthetic
pigments generally include the addition of other chemical sub-
stances, such as sulfides and acids, which were identified as the
main causes of environmental damage (Gorre e et al., 2002; Jo
€ nsson
et al., 1997).
The decision to limit the LCA to the pigment is driven by the
findings of the previous studies, which are above-mentioned.
Indeed, the role of the pigments is indicated there as one of the
most “impactful” entries in the linoleum production impact
assessment, especially in the case where titanium dioxide (TiO2)
pigment (Jo € nsson et al., 1997), red or yellow pigments are consid-
ered (Gorre e et al., 2002). Moreover, the entire LCA of linoleum has
been already assessed by such studies. Therefore, the original
contribution of this assessment to the literature is identified in the
calculation of the impact of the pigments compared to the com-
mercial ones.
The LCA boundaries are related to the sole production of the
pigment itself. For the SY, such boundaries mean that the analysis
goes from the extraction of the pigment from the smoke tree
(cotinus coggygria), to the pigment ready to be applied in the
linoleum mix. For the CdS, the boundaries of the analysis start from
the components for synthesizing the pigment, i.e., from cadmium,
to the yellow cadmium sulfide pigment. The input data are taken
from the in-lab development of the materials. It is important to
highlight that this preliminary LCA is assessed for an in-lab pro-
duction of small quantities of pigment, while the industrial pro-
duction is more complex and undergoes different steps. The
decision to consider such in-lab assessment is linked to the need to
use the exact data deriving from the in-house development of the
bio-based pigments. Therefore, also for the traditional yellow
cadmium pigment we employ an in-house artisanal process to be
industrialized later on. The investigation of an industrial process for
the bio-based pigment and the traditional pigment will be the
subject of future studies.
3.6.2. Inventory analysis
In this phase, data about the production of the investigated
products are gathered towards the description of the production
process and the employed resources. One kilogram of pigment is
considered for each pigment type to compute the LCA.
Based on the results of the optic characterization (section 4.1.1),
we hypothesize that one kg of SY and one kg of CdS are functionally
equivalent with respect to tinting strength. The analysis demon-
strated that the tinting strength of the bio-based pigment is high.
For the synthetic pigment, the same “high” tinting strength is
defined in the technical sheets of commercially available products.
Additionally, the dimension of the pigments and their fineness,
which are relevant in determining the tinting strength (Bruce,
1928), are equivalent for SY and CdS, since similar tools and pro-
cedure in the lab are taken into consideration for their preparation.
Therefore, the in-lab color analysis, manufacturers’ technical in-
formation and the procedure customized in lab support the hy-
pothesis that the tinting strength is equivalent for the two
compared samples, and that 1 kg of the bio-based pigment and 1 kg
of the synthetic pigment are functionally equivalent.
Considering the above-defined boundaries for the LCA, the
process is here described.
For the SY yellow natural pigment, the leaves of the smoke tree
(cotinus coggygria) are crushed and then boiled for 1 h. Then, the
obtained mix is filtered so as to separate the solid part from the
liquid part. The yellow pigment is finally obtained by means of
spray-dryer method (Venil et al., 2015). For boiling, natural gas is
employed, while electricity is used to dry the crushed leaves with
the spray-drier and finally obtaining the pigment.
For the traditional, cadmium sulfide pigment (CdS), cadmium
sulfide, sodium sulfide, deionized water and hydrochloric acid are
 F. Rosso et al. / Journal of Cleaner Production 267 (2020) 122202 5

employed, as well as electricity to dry the pigment and pulverize it. Table 3
Both the inventory analyses are presented in Table 2. Color analysis on the linoleum samples, L*a*b* coordinates.

Linoleum sample Acronym L* a* b*

Ref. Sample Ref 50.5 10.6 28.6

Lignin LB 41.2 8.7 24.3
3.6.3. Impact assessment
Woad-blue WB 36.6 2.8 20.6
The above described resources and processes are elaborated Woad þ TiO2-blue WBTiO2 49.4 2.4 17.3
within SimaPro 8.3 environment (Pre Sustainability, 2020), by us- Madder-red MR 36.2 20.7 38.4
ing the ReCiPe method (National Institute for Public Health and the Madder þ TiO2-red MRTiO2 52.9 14.5 29.7
Environment, 2017). The impact of the two pigments production is Smoke tree-yellow SY 47.6 11.1 32.2
Smoke tree þ -yellow SYþ 48.1 11.4 32.5
assessed by means of the following impact categories (National
Institute for Public Health and the Environment, 2017):

- Climate change, CC [kg CO2 eq]: it indicates the contribution to
greenhouse gases emissions, measured as CO2 equivalent.
- Ozone depletion (OD) [kg CFC-11 eq]: it is a proxy for the
destruction of the protective ozone layer by anthropogenic
emissions of ozone-depleting substances. It is measured by
means of ozone depletion potential of different gases relative to
the reference substance, CFC-11 (chlorofluorocarbon-11).
- Terrestrial acidification (TA) [kg SO2 eq]: it is a measure of the
atmospheric deposition of inorganic acid substances on soil.
- Freshwater eutrophication (FE) [kg P eq] and Marine eutrophi-
cation (ME) [kg N eq]: it indicates the accumulation of nutrients
in aquatic systems. Such nutrients decrease water quality and
increase abnormal plant growth into water bodies.
- Human toxicity (HT) [kg 1,4-DB eq]: it defines the toxic effect of
chemicals on humans.
- Photochemical oxidant formation (POF) [kg NMVOC]: it in-
dicates the type of smog created from the effect of sunlight, heat
and NMVOC and NOx (increase during summer).
- Particulate matter formation (PMF) [kg PM10 eq]: Suspended
extremely small particles originated from anthropogenic
processes.
- Terrestrial ecotoxicity (TET), Freshwater ecotoxicity (FET) and
Marine ecotoxicity (MET) [kg 1,4-DB eq]: it indicates the impact
of toxic substances on terrestrial, freshwater and marine eco-
systems (measured in 1.4-dichlorobenzene equivalents
emissions).
- Ionizing radiation (IR) [kBq U235 eq]: release of radioactive
material to the environment.
- Agricultural land occupation (ALO) [m2 year], urban land occu-
pation (ULO) [m2 year] and natural land transformation (NLT)
[m2]: it reflects the damage to ecosystems due to the occupation
and transformation of land.
- Water depletion (WD) [m3]: amount of water used.
- Metal depletion (MD) [kg Fe eq]: amount of minerals/metals
used.
- Fossil depletion (FD) [kg oil eq]: it indicates the use of fossil fuels
These impact categories represent the “midpoints”, i.e., the
physical changes to the environment, which are later translated
into damages (“endpoint”).
4. Results
Results about the developed material characterization are here
reported. The multiphysics lab analyses are discussed here within
the next three subsections, while the environmental impact
assessment is described at the end of this section, with a specific
focus on the pigment analysis and its role in optimizing the life
cycle performance of the proposed prototype.
4.1. Optic characterization
4.1.1. Color analysis
All the samples are analyzed with the colorimeter, and multiple
tests are performed for each linoleum type. Results are reported in
Table 3. The considered color space is determined by L*a*b* co-
ordinates. L* represents lightness, while a* indicates color variation
from green (128) to red (127), and b* from blue (128) to yellow
(127). In terms of lightness, it can be noticed how the addition of
TiO2 is able to increase lightness in all the considered samples.

Table 2
Inventory for the two pigments: the bio-based, smoke tree-based yellow pigment (SY) and the cadmium sulfide artificial pigment (CdS).

amount unit of measure

Cotinus coggygria pigment (SY) 1.00 kg

use of resources
cotinus extraction 11.00 kg
from nature water unspecified natural origin, Italy 10.00 l
Wood 1.00 kg
from the technosphere heat, district or industrial, natural gasa 6.00 kWh
cotinus pigment 1.00 kg
use of electricity electricity, medium voltage (IT)b 6.00 kWh
amount unit of measure
Cadmium sulfide pigment (CdS) 1.00 kg
use of resources
from nature water unspecified natural origin, Italy 10.00 l
from the technosphere cadmium sulfide 1.00 kg
sodium sulfide 2.30 kg
deionized water 23.00 kg
hydrochloric acid 1.00 kg
use of electricity electricity, medium voltage (IT) 30.00 kWh
emissions to water acids, unspecified 20.00 kg
a
Includes the energy used to boil.
b
Includes the energy for the spray-dryer.
6 F. Rosso et al. / Journal of Cleaner Production 267 (2020) 122202
The statistical analysis consists in Student’s t-test with a confi-
dence interval of 95%, performed by looking at the effect of TiO2 on
both WB and MR samples, and it confirms that the addition of TiO2
significantly increases the L* coordinate (p ¼ 0.00). The same test is
performed on a* and b* but with different results: the addition of
TiO2 is not significant in modifying a* color coordinate; b* appears
to be significantly changed only if considering a confidence interval
of 90% (p ¼ 0.059).
If the considered sample for the statistical analysis compre-
hends only one sample type (or WB or MR), also the modifications
on a* and b* are significant (p < 0.05). This is due to the fact that
while the modifications on L* are the same for both WB and MR, a*
is modified with a different sign on each linoleum: WB turns to-
wards the red while MR towards the green, both becoming rela-
tively more neutral going towards “0” value.
The difference in colored pigment content in SY and
SY þ samples does not lead to significant changes in the L*a*b*
space, confirming that SY tinting strength is at its maximum
already at the lowest percentage (4%) with respect to total weight.
The color coordinates allow also to verify whether the percep-
tion (E) of the colors to the human eye is modified by the addition of
TiO2 or with varying pigments’ content. The formula is given in
Equation (1) (Billmeyer, 1983; Rosso et al., 2016c; Wyszecki and
Stiles, 1982). E is perception, and DE represent the difference in
perception between two colors: if this value is higher than 5, then
the colors are perceived as different by the human eye; if the value
is lower than 5, then the colors are perceived as the same color, i.e.,
the differences are that small that they cannot be detected by the
human eye.
pffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffi
DE ¼ DL* þ Da* þ Db* (1)
Results of this evaluation allow verifying that the addition of the
pigments is able to clearly modify the color of the samples, except
for the SY and SYþ, which are perceived as not significantly
different in terms of color when compared to the reference sample
(Fig. 2, top right SY and top left Ref). Moreover, also the addition of
TiO2 pigments modifies same-colored pigment samples. Therefore,
WB and WBTiO2 are perceived as different colors, as well as MR and
MRTiO2. These results are directly observable in Fig. 3. These results
are in line with the findings reported in the next subsection, con-
cerning solar reflectance. Indeed, higher values with respect to L*
coordinates, due to TiO2 addition, correspond to higher values of
Fig. 3. Colors of the samples, elaborated as the mean value of L*a*b* coordinates of
each sample type. (For interpretation of the references to color in this figure legend,
the reader is referred to the Web version of this article.)
solar reflectance (WB and WBTiO2, MR and MRTiO2). SY and
SY þ do not display high differences in L* nor they do with respect
to solar reflectance.
4.1.2. Solar reflectance and absorbance
Solar reflectance is an important characteristic for building
materials. Whether the material is applied outdoor or indoor, solar
reflectance can have a tremendous impact on the occupants’
comfort and energy consumption (Makaremi et al., 2018; Rosso
et al., 2016a). Linoleum samples are all tested with the spectro-
photometer to assess their solar reflectance. Since the linoleum is
totally opaque, the solar absorbance can be deduced by subtracting
reflectance value from 100%, e.g., MR has solar reflectance of 33.6%,
and thus the solar absorbance is 66.4%. Results are reported in
Fig. 4, where the total solar reflectance is depicted for each sample;
and in Table 4 and Fig. 5, where both total solar reflectance and
specific solar reflectance for each portion of the solar spectrum are
graphed. In greater detail, UV refers to the ultra-violet portion of
the spectrum, Vis refers to the visible portion and NIR to the near-
infrared portion of the solar spectrum. The solar reflectance index
(SRI) is reported as the synthetic indicator of solar reflectance for
the investigated materials.
The statistical analysis about the effect of TiO2 presence on solar
reflectance values is again a Student’s t-test. The considered con-
fidence interval was 95%, and all the samples prove to possess
statistically significantly different solar reflectance when TiO2 is
added, as visible from the Figures above. The differences are in the
order of 10% for the madder, 5e8% for woad, as evidenced in Fig. 4.
The larger gap in reflectance has to be found in the NIR portion of
the spectrum, as visible in Fig. 5, which depicts solar reflectance all
along the spectrum, and in Table 4, and this result is in line with
previous research, underlining the infrared reflecting properties of
TiO2 (Rosso et al., 2017; Song et al., 2014). The highest reflectance of
TiO2 doped samples mirrors the findings of the colorimetric anal-
ysis, where increased lightness values are assessed for WBTiO2 and
MRTiO2. With respect to SY and SY þ samples, the higher per-
centage of pigments in SY þ does not lead to large differences in
SRI. The highest difference in solar reflectance of SY and
SY þ samples is in the visible (Vis) portion of the solar spectrum,
where the higher content in pigments allows obtaining þ1.6% in
Vis, which is still a low value when compared to the other samples
(Table 4, Figs. 4, Figure 5). This result confirms the findings of the
color analysis (section 4.1.1): indeed, such an increase in pigments
in the linoleum mix of SY þ sample does not lead to any perceivable
color difference.
Fig. 4. Solar reflectance values (SRI) for each linoleum sample.
 F. Rosso et al. / Journal of Cleaner Production 267 (2020) 122202 7

Table 4
Solar reflectance values (SRI and solar reflectance in each part of the solar spectrum) of the linoleum samples. Highest values are underlined.

% values Acronym SRI UV Vis NIR

Linoleum sample 300e2500 nm 300e380 nm 380,5e780 nm 781e2500 nm

Ref. Sample Ref. 39.4 7.9 28.2 27.5

Lignin LB 28.8 6.4 17.9 17.8
Woad-blue WB 31.4 6.0 16.2 16.6
Woad þ TiO2-blue WBTiO2 39.5 6.4 24.6 24.8
Madder-red MR 33.6 5.6 19.8 19.9
Madder þ TiO2-red MRTiO2 42.7 15.9 30.9 30.1
Smoke tree-yellow SY 38.1 6.3 24.7 24.7
Smoke tree þ -yellow SYþ 38.9 6.4 26.3 25.8

Fig. 5. Solar reflectance along the entire solar spectrum, from 300 up to 2500 nm.

4.2. Thermal characterization 4.3. Acoustic characterization

The thermal characteristics are assessed by following the stan-
dards described in the “Methods” section. Thermal emissivity is
equal to 0.88e0.90 for all the samples, disregarding linoleum color.
Thermal conductivity values are reported in Fig. 6. Thermal con-
ductivity varies from 0.28 W/mK in the MR sample up to 0.37 W/
mK in the reference sample. The lower the thermal conductivity,
the better the thermal insulation of the materials inside the
building. The samples without TiO2 exhibit significantly (95% con-
fidence interval) lower thermal conductivity, considering both MR
and WB. The reference sample has the highest thermal conductivity
among all the implemented samples.
The results of the tests demonstrate that the samples have
similar absorption coefficient peak values in terms of magnitude
(Fig. 7).
Considering the samples tested with no air gap between the
holder and the bottom of the tube, WB, WBTiO2 and LB present
absorption peaks around 2500 Hz and equal to 0.50, 0.40 and 0.30,
respectively; MRTiO2, has a peak of 0.45 around 5500 Hz; the other
four samples have their peaks in the interval between 3500 and
4500 Hz. The highest absorption coefficients can be seen in Fig. 7,
top image, for the MR (0.55) and the SY (above 0.50).
The peak shifts to lower frequencies, around 1000e2000 Hz, for
8 F. Rosso et al. / Journal of Cleaner Production 267 (2020) 122202

samples have lower coefficients, between 0.30 (LB) and 0.50 (SYþ).
The outlined results suggest that TiO2 or colored pigments (for SYþ)
addition reduces the sound absorption capability of the sample.
This may be due to an increase of sample density, i.e., reduction of
sample superficial porosity, also according to the thermal conduc-
tivity variation imputable to titanium dioxide addition.
By increasing the air layer thickness behind the linoleum sam-
ples up to 2 cm, absorption coefficient peaks are lower in magni-
tude and concentrated around 1000 and 1600 Hz, thus even lower
frequencies. The highest absorption coefficients are those of Ref,
WB, MR and SY (0.50), while again the samples with TiO2 pigments
and additional colored pigments (SYþ), as well as LB, show lower
peaks (0.20e0.30).

Fig. 6. Thermal conductivity for each linoleum sample.

4.4. LCA

the samples measured with 1 cm air layer behind the sample. In The results of the LCA for the production of the natural, bio-
this case, higher absorption coefficient values are reached, up to based yellow pigment are reported in Fig. 8 and Fig. 9. More than
0.75 for SY, 0.70 for WB and MR and 0.60 Ref samples. The other the quantities, which are calculated for 1 kg of pigment, it is
interesting to compare the impact of the bio-based pigment (SY)

Fig. 7. Absorption coefficients for the linoleum samples, with different air layer thicknesses.
 F. Rosso et al. / Journal of Cleaner Production 267 (2020) 122202
and the artificial one (CdS).
The mean decrease % variation of the impact between the SY
with respect to the CdS is 72.2%. The results are reported in greater
detail in Table 5.
The most impactful categories are marine ecotoxicity (MET) and
human toxicity (HT). In proportion, the same can be said for both SY
and CdS, even if CdS shows significantly higher values. By looking
more in depth at the CdS impact, the most toxic components are
cadmium sulfide, sodium sulfide and electricity.
5. Discussion
The results reported in the previous sections demonstrated that
the colored pigments are able to effectively color the linoleum in a
sustainable way, as bio-based and in-lab developed solution. The
same results indeed show that the perception of the color differ-
ence is evident to the eye, especially with respect to WB and MR.
Additionally, the TiO2-doped samples are perceived as different
from the corresponding non-TiO2-doped samples. These findings
are in line with the results of solar reflectance measurements
performed in lab, and with previous research on construction
materials with TiO2 pigments (Rosso et al., 2017; Song et al., 2014).
With respect to thermal conductivity findings, the measured
values can be compared with those of the commercial linoleum
(Forbo Floring Systems, 2020; Gerflor the flooring group, 2020.;
Torres-Rivas et al., 2018), which are generally equal to 0.17 W/mK.
Such values are lower than those of the linoleum developed in lab,
the lowest being 0.28 W/mK (MR) and we hypothesize that this
difference is imputable to the in-lab, artisanal production process.
Indeed, in this case, the objective was not specifically focused on
optimizing the thermal properties of the linoleum, but to charac-
terize and investigate all the properties of this novel material,
which is entirely bio-based. Based on the above comparison with
commercial products, we argue that there is still a high potential in
reducing the thermal conductivity of the in-lab developed lino-
leum, which could be the subject of future research.
Considering the results of the acoustic characterization, the
sound absorption coefficient is very similar among all the consid-
ered samples, while it consistently varies with the thickness of the
air layer behind the sample. Such a variation opens up interesting
architectural applications as indoor vertical envelope for the in-lab
developed linoleum. Future works should investigate the durability
of the material, especially hypothesizing its application as paving
material. This solution would bring about another advantage in
terms of acoustic performance. Indeed, linoleum is acknowledged
Fig. 8. Impact categories assessment for 1 kg of cotinus coggygria pigment and cad-
mium sulfide pigment.
9
as a paving material that is able to reduce noise, since it softens the
sound of footsteps (Forbo Floring Systems, 2020; Gerflor the
flooring group, 2020; Torres-Rivas et al., 2018).
Another important aspect for indoors applications is the impact
of the material on indoor air quality. In this work, measurements
were not undertaken to analyze this specific point, due to the
presence already, in the existing literature, of valuable studies on
the topic (Jensen et al., 1995a, Jensen et al., 1995b; Knudsen et al.,
2007; Benabed et al., 2020; Wargocki et al., 2002). However, such
aspect is not of secondary importance, and some considerations
need to be done taking into account previous studies. The existing
works evidence three main aspects related to linoleum paving,
namely (i) odor, (ii) pollution emission and (iii) human walking-
induced particle resuspension. With respect to odor, Jensen et al.
(1995a) investigated the odor of 13 linoleum samples and verified
that there are two main factors influencing odor of linoleum, and in
greater detail 2-alkenals and fatty acids. Knudsen et al. (2007)
underline the prominence of linseed oil in odorous emissions and
compare building materials with linseed oil with synthetic ones
without linseed. Their findings demonstrate that products with
linseed oil more negatively influenced the air quality and they
argue that the volatile organic compounds (VOCs) responsible for
this negative assessment originate from oxidation processes of
linseed oil as raw material. To reduce VOCs it is thus suggested to
select less odorous linseed oils. Jensen et al. (1995b) measured the
emissions of VOCs in 13 linoleum samples, indicating hexanol,
propanoic acid, nonanal and unsaturated aldehydes as the main
VOCs, which are oxidation byproducts from the production process
and from oxidative degradation. The odor threshold concentration
was reached after 113 up to 2296 h. Benabed et al. (2020) compared
the human-walking induced fine and ultrafine particle resus-
pension of hardwood flooring and linoleum flooring, and verified
that human walking significantly increased concentration of PM10,
PM2.5, PM1 particles. Such concentrations were higher for hard-
wood than for linoleum. Finally, Wargocki et al. (2002) evidence
how increasing the air supply rate in an office with linoleum
flooring was an effective strategy to decrease the concentration of
VOCs and consequently improve indoor air quality.
With respect to the LCA, the findings confirm the significantly
lower impact of the investigated natural pigment than the same-
color traditional synthetic ones. Even if this may be considered as
a first lab-scale result, it is particularly important because it re-
sponds to the findings of previous LCA studies on linoleum, iden-
tifying that synthetic pigments were responsible for hazardous
Fig. 9. Impact categories for cadmium sulfide pigment: detail for each component.
10 F. Rosso et al. / Journal of Cleaner Production 267 (2020) 122202

Table 5
Impact categories (described in section 3.6.3) assessment for 1 kg of cotinus coggygria (SY) pigment and cadmium sulfide pigment (CdS) and % decrease.

Acronym Label Cotinus coggygria pigment (SY) Cadmium sulfide pigment (CdS) % decrease SY vs CdS

CC Climate change 0.001028091 0.002737848 62.4

OD Ozone depletion 0.000052319 0.000152012 65.6
TA Terrestrial acidification 0.000927782 0.003382984 72.6
FE Freshwater eutrophication 0.003073842 0.026393655 88.4
ME Marine eutrophication 0.000085040 0.000490266 82.7
HT Human toxicity 0.017480368 0.083056769 79.0
POF Photochemical oxidant formation 0.000327657 0.001142686 71.3
PMF Particulate matter formation 0.000688124 0.003571328 80.7
TET Terrestrial ecotoxicity 0.000135594 0.001225481 88.9
FET Freshwater ecotoxicity 0.005417101 0.027714649 80.5
MET Marine ecotoxicity 0.018285966 0.122093768 85.0
IR Ionizing radiation 0.000104318 0.000614137 83.0
ALO Agricultural land occupation 0.000053858 0.000914671 94.1
ULO Urban land occupation 0.000063631 0.000565690 88.8
NLT Natural land transformation 0.016158774 0.026050513 38.0
WD Water depletion 0.000000000 0.000000000 0.00
MRD Metal depletion 0.000219640 0.001510811 85.5
FD Fossil depletion 0.002328713 0.005005958 53.5

waste. While it is difficult to find LCA works on similar bio-based
pigments, a comparison between the findings of previous works
on linoleum could be misleading, due to the distance in time of the
previous works. However, considering Jo€ nsson and colleagues work
(1997), Table 2 of their work, the amount of hazardous waste im-
putable to the pigment corresponds to almost 25% of the total,
while the related electricity consumption is equal to 30%. Such
percentages support the findings of the LCA performed in the
present work, where even higher percentages are associated to the
reduction of impact categories (reported in Table 5, previous sec-
tion) and evidence the relevance of developing and studying these
bio-based, natural pigments and materials for the construction
industry.
6. Conclusions
In this work, a natural, bio-based linoleum, also colored by
means of pigments extracted by plants and in-lab developed, is
considered, and its design, development and multiphysics charac-
terization is described. Different colors are studied, all character-
ized by the same linoleum base but with different pigments,
ranging from the red to the green color. The in-lab developed
samples were characterized with respect to optic, thermal and
acoustic behavior in order to investigate the effect of the compo-
nents (lignin and pigments) on the above-mentioned properties.
The pigments are able to color the linoleum material, even when
added only by 4%. The solar reflectance of the linoleum ranges from
the lowest 28.8% (lignin) to the highest 42.7% (Madder and TiO2),
but the majority of them fall between 30% and 38%. With respect to
thermal conductivity, the addition of the different pigments is able
to change thermal conductivity, and the range is between 0.28 and
0.37 W/mK. The lowest thermal conductivity is among the linoleum
where the natural pigments are added, while the highest charac-
terizes the reference sample. Also, titanium addition decreases the
sample porosity and therefore it is responsible for increasing
thermal conductivity and decreasing sound absorption capability.
With respect to acoustic characteristics, the material shows
good absorption coefficients (up to almost 0.8) especially when
1 cm air layer is left behind the sample, as recommended appli-
cation configuration indoors. The frequencies with highest ab-
sorption coefficients are around 1000e2000 Hz (1 cm air layer
samples), 1000e1600 Hz (2 cm samples) and 3500e4500 Hz (no
air). A combination of panels for the indoors could be hypothesized
to be applied with different distances from the wall, so as to provide
adequate sound absorption at different frequencies and at the same
time pleasant and varied vertical finishing layer to the room.
Considering the above-mentioned characteristics, the indoor
application of such linoleum is promising, as paving material but
also as finishing layer for vertical walls and ceilings. The employ-
ment of the bio-based pigments appears to change, in addition to
the optics characteristics, also thermal conductivity. More impor-
tantly, the employment of bio-based pigments, as original contri-
bution of this work, allows maintaining a lower impact on the
environment and on human health, especially with respect to
toxicity: indeed, many artificial pigments are expected to present
high toxicity level, especially dangerous for indoor applications.
As future development of this work, durability and mechanical
tests need to be carried out to investigate the suitability of the
material as paving material. Moreover, further LCA could be con-
ducted, taking the moves from this preliminary analysis, and
investigating an industrial production process and more pigments.
Declaration of competing interest
The authors declare that they have no known competing
financial interests or personal relationships that could have
appeared to influence the work reported in this paper.
CRediT authorship contribution statement
Federica Rosso: Conceptualization, Data curation, Formal
analysis, Investigation, Methodology, Resources, Software, Super-
vision, Validation, Visualization, Writing - original draft, Writing -
review & editing. Anna Laura Pisello: Conceptualization, Funding
acquisition, Investigation, Methodology, Project administration,
Resources, Supervision, Writing - original draft, Writing - review &
editing. Ilaria Pigliautile: Conceptualization, Data curation, Formal
analysis, Investigation, Methodology, Resources, Software, Valida-
tion, Visualization, Writing - original draft, Writing - review &
editing. Gianluca Cavalaglio: Conceptualization, Data curation,
Formal analysis, Investigation, Methodology. Valentina Coccia:
Conceptualization, Data curation, Formal analysis, Investigation,
Methodology.
Acknowledgements
The authors would like to thank David Ingles and Silvia D’An-
tonio for their cooperation while developing the materials in the
 F. Rosso et al. / Journal of Cleaner Production 267 (2020) 122202
CRB-CIRIAF LAB at University of Perugia, and Alessandro Bertini for
his comments. Also, the authors would like to thank SOS CITTA’
project supported by Fondazione Cassa di Risparmio di Perugia
under the grant number 2018.0499.026 and UNESCO Chair on
Water Resource Management and Culture. The first Author grate-
fully acknowledges Ermenegildo Zegna for supporting her career
and works through the Ermenegildo Zegna Founder’s Scholarship
2018-2019. The scholarship’s funder has no role in study design,
data collection and analysis, decision to publish or preparation of
this specific manuscript. Finally, the authors thank H2CU for
fostering their cooperation and international opportunities
through College Italia and other important initiatives.
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