Circular Aerogel Reusable Building Insulation Products

Introduction

Polyurethane (PU) and Polyisocyanurate (PIR) foam are one of the most broadly used materials for building insulation applications. Though they exhibit excellent thermal performance properties, they have a high environmental impact, especially when applied in sandwich constructions, such as concrete sandwich panels (SWP), which are non-recyclable at the end of their life.

Alternative Materials

Loose fill insulation materials, which consist of recycled (mineral, natural) fibres or grains (expanded polystyrene - EPS), are circular and have a significantly lower environmental impact. However, they have a lower thermal performance (0.034 – 0.050 W/m-K) compared to PU/PIR insulation materials (0.020 – 0.030 W/m-K).

Project Overview

Within the CARBIP-LIFE project, a new, sustainable production process for aerogel, developed by consortium partner Aerobel, will be used to create composite aerogel-based insulation materials. This process combines aerogel with recycled loose fill mineral and natural fibres, including:

1. Cellulose
2. Stone wool
3. Glass wool fibres
4. Recycled (E)PS

The goal is to obtain high added-value, circular, and sustainably produced insulating materials with ʎ-values equal to or below 0.025-0.029 W/(m-K).

Large Scale Production

Within this project, the CARBIP-LIFE consortium will demonstrate for the first time the large-scale production of these sustainable composite aerogel-based insulation materials. The scale will reach up to 36,000 m³ of composite insulation materials per year by the end of the project.

Application

These materials will be applied in a new, designed-for-disassembly, patented system called “Insulated Double Walls” (IDW). This system aims to construct 100% circular, high thermal performance concrete facades for buildings, anticipating a scale of 50,000 m² of IDW panels by the end of the project.