Innovative Aerogel Production for Low-Cost and High-R Insulation

Lead Performer:  Optowares Inc. – Woburn, MA, https://www.optowares.com/ 
Partner: Georgia Southern University –  Statesboro, GA  
DOE Total Funding:  $199,996
Project Term:  June 28, 2021 – March 27, 2022 
Funding Type: Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) Phase 1

Project Objective

Materials with a high R-value per inch greatly facilitate retrofitting of existing buildings and enable higher performance new construction. Aerogels have an R-value per inch of 10 or higher, which places them among the best insulators for buildings. However, the production and application of aerogels in building construction is limited by their high materials costs and laborious and expensive manufacturing. As a result, costs for aerogel manufacturing do not decrease with production volume, limiting their widespread adoption. This project focuses on the development of production methods of aerogels that reduce the energy, time, and production cost scaling of drying.

Optowares will demonstrate the feasibility of making aerogel blankets without using costly CO₂-supercritical drying. Optowares’ technology involves polymerizing an inexpensive and readily available dicyclopentadiene (DCPD) using an ambient pressure drying process solution. The project will focus on optimizing nanopore and nano volume, surface area, and morphology of poly-DCPD aerogels as a way to improve their thermal conductivity values. This will be accomplished by developing a novel high-throughput and low-cost manufacturing method using sol-gel and ambient pressure drying process of poly-DCPD aerogel blanket insulation for building and industrial applications. The proposed aerogel blankets are based on the unique nanopore/nanoparticle structure of aerogel and superior properties of poly-DCPD precursor, and will have building insulation form factors that yield lower overall cost, labor effort, and installation time in new construction and retrofits of existing buildings. The resultant poly-DCPD aerogel is projected to have an R-value/inch of greater than 8 for insulation material composite that will have the benefits of both its base polymer and its aerogel nanostructure.

Project Impact

Demand from industries such as oil and gas, aerospace, refrigeration, and automotive already has propelled the growth of the global aerogel insulation market, which is projected to reach $2 billion by 2023. However, the most significant barrier to widespread adoption of aerogel insulation in buildings is cost. Successful development of the ambient pressure dried poly-DCPD aerogel blankets is projected to reduce their cost by 3-5 times compared to today’s aerogels. This is accomplished while maintaining properties such as high-R value, acoustic isolation, hydrophobicity, and durability at a wide range of temperatures. By maintaining the low density, the resultant poly-DCPD based aerogel products could also be suitable for non-buildings applications in industry, oil and gas, construction, transportation, aerospace and marine.

Contacts

DOE Technology Manager: Sven Mumme
Lead Performer:  Je Kyun Lee, Optowares Inc.

Related Publications

1. Je Kyun Lee*, George Gould “Polydicyclopentadiene Based Aerogel: A New Insulation Material,” J. Sol-Gel Sci. Tech., 44, 29 (2007).
2. Je Kyun Lee*, George Gould, Wendell Rhine, “Polyurea based aerogel for a high performance thermal insulation material,” J. Sol-Gel Sci. Tech., 49, 209 (2009).
3. Je Kyun Lee*, George Gould “Viscosity Behaviors of Rapidly Curable Silica Sols,” J. Sol-Gel Sci. Tech., 34, 281 (2005).
4. Kyung-Jin Lee, Je Kyun Lee*, Hae-Jin Hwang*, “Fast synthesis of spherical silica aerogel powders by emulsion polymerization from water glass,” Inorg. Chem, 3, 1 (2018).
5. Kyung-Jin Lee, Je Kyun Lee*, Hae-Jin Hwang*, “Fabrication of silica aerogel composites from an aqueous silica aerogel slurry,” Ceram. Int, 44, 2204 (2018).
6. H.J. Schanz et al., “Synthesis and Thermal Properties of Linear Polydicyclopentadiene via Ring-Opening Metathesis Polymerization with a Third Generation Grubbs-Type Ruthenium-Alkylidene Complex,” J. Polym. Sci. Part A: Polym. Chem., 40, 2373 (2018).
7. H.J. Schanz et al., “Hexacoordinate Ru-based olefin metathesis catalysts with pH-responsive N-heterocyclic carbene (NHC) and N-donor ligands for ROMP reactions in non-aqueous, aqueous and emulsion conditions,” Beilstein J. Org. Chem., 11, 1960 (2015).
8. H.J. Schanz et al., “pH-Responsive Ruthenium-Based Olefin Metathesis Catalysts: Controlled Ring-Opening Metathesis Polymerization in Alcoholic and Aqueous Media upon Acid Addition,” Organometallics 2011, 30, 199-203.