A special feature on the market and players in aerogels.
Aerogels are driving the next generation of innovative products in household insulation. Nanotech Magazine investigates.
In
the construction sector, home insulation is of vital importance in reducing heat loss from the home. Also, according to the 2011 report Energy and Building, in 2005, 8.3 Gt of CO2 was emitted from poorly insulated buildings, accounting for over 30% of the greenhouse emissions in the western world. Residential and commercial insulation has been demonstrated to be the most cost effective method of reducing these gases. In 2009, the world insulation industry was estimated to be $29.2 billion market and is projected to grow 3.8 percent annually through 2012.
Conventional insulating materials are applied in thick or multiple layers which has an adverse impact on building design and structure, therefore creating a need for new types of high performance insulators, which can be applied to new buildings as well as being the key technology for energy-efficient retrofitting of buildings. The leading candidate is Aerogels which has been gaining market traction in the construction sector over the last few years.
Aerogels
Aerogels are silica foams with nanoporous cavities that comprise 97% of their volume and are used as thermal insulation materials in a variety or markets including architecture and construction, solar energy, oil and gas pipelines, automotive engines and exhausts, thermal materials in textiles, household appliances and space applications. Applications include:
Insulation
• Residential, Commercial and Industrial Thermal Insulation
• Window Panes
• Acoustic Panels
Automotive
• Battery Housings
• Under hood Liners
• Firewalls
Electronics
• Semiconductor Devices
• Optoelectronic Devices
• Optical Fibres
• Light Emitting Diodes
• Flat Panel Displays
• Imaging Systems
Mechanical/ Chemical
• Metal Casting Moulds
• Catalysts
• Micro filters
• Water Treatment
Sensors & Instrumentation
• Sensors
• Cherenkov Detectors
Energy
• Oil & Gas Pipe-in-Pipe Flow lines
• Photovoltaic Cells and Photo thermal Devices
• Fuel Cells
• Lithium Ion Batteries
• Super capacitors
• Medical/Biological/
• Pharmaceuticals
Biocompatible Devices
• Biological Carriers
• Pharmaceutical and Cosmetic Additives
• Absorbent Articles
• Aerospace
Spacecraft Material
• Space Research
• Dust/Comet Particle Collection
• Defence & Military
Thermal, Acoustic, IR and Fire Protection
• Shelter Insulation
• Blast Mitigation
• Shock Absorption
Consumer
• Textiles
• Apparel
• Appliances & Equipment
Application as thermal insulation materials in construction and architecture is largest market for these materials and one with the potentially the greatest economic return. As well as loft and façade insulation, aerogels are also suitable for windows due to their high transparency (more than 90% light transmission). Airglass (http://www.airglass.se) produces aerogel products for insulating windows, fire safety glasses or solar collectors. Other companies producing aerogels for application in windows include Cabot Aerogel and Okalux.
Aerogels are highly porous solids with an inner surface of 600 to 1000 m2 per gram. They consist of (usually silica) nanoparticles arranged in a highly porous three-dimensional network with pore diameters varying between a few nanometers and some micrometers. Typical pore diameters are in the range of approximately 10 nm. The pores typically constitute about 95 % of the material volume. According to aerogel producers their materials are between 5-8 times more effective than insulation materials. The low thermal conduction values possessed by silica aerogels make them ideal insulators. There are a number of companies, mainly in North America who manufacture aerogel products for a variety to markets. Cabot Aerogel and Aspen Aerogels dominate the market, especially for building insulation and there is very little competition in the market.
Cabot Aerogel
Cabot Aerogel produces the Nanogel® Compression Pack™, an aerogel roll which can be placed in internal spaces then activated, swelling to fill all gaps. Nanogel aerogel is a nanoporous silica with an average pore size of 20 nanometers. www.cabot-corp.com/nanogel/
The company has also helped developed a new coating that makes it possible to touch hot steam pipes, tanks, and steel surfaces without burning your hand. The new coating is called Aerolon and is made by Tnemec Corporation, who uses Cabot’s superinsulating fine-particle Enova aerogel to make the coating. www.cabot-corp.com/nanogel/
Aspen Aerogels
Spaceloft® is an aerogel blanket composed of a silica aerogel prepared with additional fibres or a fibrous matrix to give it strength, by-passing the fragility of conventional aerogels. These blankets are 10 mm thick, with a thermal conductivity of 13.1 mW/mK. www.aerogel.com
Nanopore
NanoPore™ Thermal Insulation provides exceptional thermal performance in both vacuum insulation and ambient pressure applications. NanoPore™ HP can provide thermal resistances as high as R40 per inch and can be used at temperatures ranging from cryogenic to several hundred °C. NanoPore™ Thermal Insulation has been used in applications ranging from thermal isolation of microelectronics to refrigeration to high temperature, high performance exhaust systems. www.nanopore.com
Taasi Aerogel Technologies
Pristina™ aerogels have been used in insulation products including walls, water boilers, refrigerators, windows, furnaces, and vacuum flasks. www.taasi.com
MarkeTech International, Inc
The company produces Aerogels and Nanofoams for application in space insulation materials. They are derived from the sol-gel polymerization of selected silica or resorcinol-formaldehyde (RF) monomers in solution. The sol-gel solution is cast into the desired shape and after the formation of a highly cross-linked gel, the solvent is removed from the pores of the gel. www.mkt-intl.com/
American Aerogel
American Aerogel develops and manufactures aerogel-based insulation products currently used in thermal packaging systems for the transportation of valuable biomedical, pharmaceutical, medical device and clinical trial and diagnostic industries. http://americanaerogel.com/
Figure 1: MarkeTech Aerogels (Credit: MarkeTech International, Inc.)
Green Earth Aerogel Technologies
Green Earth Aerogel Technologies (GEAT) makes aerogels from rice and rice husks. The translucent silicon aerogel can insulate extreme temperatures from -130 to 1500 degrees Celsius. The carbon aerogels from GEAT are extremely dark and blocks infrared radiation.
GEAT also developed a technology to make silicon metal from rice husk via the silicon aerogel. Silicon metal indirectly made from rice husk is cheaper, ecological and uses less energy at near zero CO2 emission to synthesize. The company claim their methods are both more energy efficient and less toxic than existing methods used for producing aerogels. http://green-earth-aerogel.es/
Maero Tech
Maero Tech leads the Asian market for aerogels. They produce Maerogel, derived from rice husks. Annual current production volumes are around 5 tons, scaling up to 15, 000 tons in 2012. www.maerotech.com
Figure 2: Aspen Aerogels Cyrogenic Insulation System (Credit: Aspen Aerogels)
Svenska Aerogel AB
Svenska Aerogel AB has developed a patented and simplified method to produce a material similar to the classic Aerogel. Initially, the aim was to develop a recyclable gas filter medium. The method relies on the precipitation of siliceous compounds using alkali silicates as starting material, a slurry (gel) is formed, the slurry is washed and de-watered to become a paste holding as much as 85% water and from this paste pellets or granules are made which become the gas filter medium. The Aerogel can be used for heat and sound insulation, and applications where there is a need for low density or resistance to high temperatures. www.aerogel.se
Other companies with Aerogel products include:
• Dow Corning (www1.dowcorning.com/content/personal/silicone_silylate.aspx) ,
• AirGlass (www.airglass.se)
• Cooper Electronic Technologies, Inc. (www.cooperindustries.com/)
• Honeywell (http://honeywell.com)
• Ocellus Technologies (www.ocellusinc.com)
• Shaoxing Nano High-Tech Co., Ltd. (http://www.nanuo.cn/english/, http://nanuo.globalimporter.net)
• United Nuclear Scientific Equipment & Suppliers. (www.unitednuclear.com).
Aerogels have been clearly demonstrated to be exceptional insulation materials. Aerogel insulation is extremely thin and does not interfere with existing structures in buildings. However, price, as with most nanomaterials out with high-end applications is still a major hindrance to widespread adoption in comparison to conventional materials which are generally less expensive to manufacture, install and replace. Using existing technology to produce aerogels is also expensive and complex, involving the use of toxic chemicals and requiring huge amounts of energy.
Application in the construction sector is mainly in relatively new markets of historical building retrofits and translucent building panels. The economic downturn slowed down the construction industry. However, aerogels are in demand from the growing energy efficient homes market. Also diversification into transportation and insulation for pipelines in the oil and gas sectors will likely see the aerogel market continue to grow.
