Inauguration of lignin center at Mercer International

This week Mercer International celebrated the inauguration of the first lignin plant in Germany as well as the only operating lignin plant in Europe at their Rosenthal site. The opening ceremony was led by the prime minister of Thuringia, Bodo Ramelow, and the CEO and President of Mercer International Juan C. Bueno and excellently moderated by site manager Dr. Christian Soergel. Mercer will now operate the plant as part of their strategy towards using lignin as valuable bio-based precursor for multiple applications – beyond its current role for bioelectricity generation. It could very well turn out to be a historical moment.

Marc and Dirk were thrilled and honored to be invited to this important event as representatives of aerogel-it. The head of the new lignin center Dr. Lars Gabriel gave a tour of the lignin plant and explained the production process as well as the possible applications of lignin. As one example, Marc could show our 100% bio-based lignin aerogel as green superinsulation material for energy efficiency and decarbonization / defossilization to the participants and Ministerpräsident Ramelow. Afterwards, the Mercer team took the visitors on tours of the site, and the event was rounded off very well with an excellent barbecue and lunch for both the visitors and the site personnel.

And that was not all. On the preceding evening, Mercer hosted a dinner at in neighboring Bad Steben with participants from politics, academia, research institutions, finance institutions and industry, which Marc and Dirk were also kindly invited to. In several impulse talks Nicolas Hark of the nova-Institut GmbH, Prof. Dr. Michael Stelter of Fraunhofer IKTS, Prof. Dr. Peter Seeberger of the Max-Planck-Institut für Kolloid- und Grenzflächenforschung and Bernt Farcke of the Federal Ministry of Food and Agriculture underlined the urgency to act in face of the climate change but also highlighted the potential of bio-based raw materials as well as the complexities surrounding regulatory definition of terms such as decarbonization, defossilization, bioenergy with potentially drastic effects on the market. Truly challenging waters to navigate for all stakeholders in the years to come. Over dinner, the highly interesting and lively discussion continued until late at night.

A truly amazing event with perfect organization. A big thank you to the team of Mercer International!

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Innovationspreis Niedersachsen 2023

Tolle Neuigkeiten! aerogel-it ist für das Finale des Innovationspreises Niedersachsen 2023 nominiert !

Das Team ist sehr stolz über diese Anerkennung unserer Arbeit im Bereich biobasierter Aerogele wie z.B. unser 100% biobasiertes Ligninaerogel als Hochleistungswärmedämmung für Dekarbonisierung und Energieeffizienz in verschiedensten Industrien und Anwendungen.

Wir glauben fest daran, dass Aerogele und insbesondere Bioaerogele als hochinnovative Materialien einen wichtigen Beitrag leisten können und müssen.

Marc und Dirk freuen sich auf die Preisverleihung in Hannover am 18.09.23.

Artikel in TI – Technische Isolierung

Wir freuen uns sehr, dass TI – Technische Isolierung einen Artikel von Marc und Dirk veröffentlicht hat, in dem unsere Geschichte und auch die aktuellen Produkte und Entwicklungen aus dem Bereich Aerogele vorgestellt werden!

Der Artikel gibt eine gute Gesamtübersicht über die verschiedenen Themen, die das Team zur Zeit verfolgt. Neben den Neuentwicklungen im Bereich biobasierte Aerogele wie das Ligninaerogel werden dort unsere bereits verfügbaren Produkte wie das Polyurethanaerogel SLENTITE® genauer beschrieben.

Two years of aerogel-it

In June the aerogel-it team came together in Hamburg to celebrate 2 years since the founding of the company in 2021. Due to different working locations and full schedules it has not been easy to organize physical meetings involving everyone – and the team enjoyed the get-together a lot!

A good opportunity to recap since a lot has been achieved by the team and our partners over that time:

1. We continue to feel that aerogels will play in important role in the future. The megatrends such energy efficiency and decarbonization/ defossilization we saw back in 2021 are steadily moving the markets in our direction.

2. We are actively working on all verticals foreseen in 2021 with our global partner network. We have established the required market access. We are on an excellent path towards becoming a leading aerogel manufacturer and solutions provider.

3. Market feedback on our aerogel products, especially the 100% bio-based lignin aerogel has been overwhelming from all angles – the press, potential customers and potential partners. It shows us that we are on the right track with our aerogel solutions for decarbonization and energyefficiency.

4. We signed multiple MoUs and first supply agreements with our customers and partners and more are in preparation. Unfortunately we have not been able to communicate all of them but that will change. Our world-class legal team is doing an excellent job that we are very thankful for.

5. Sales are picking up and help us to finance our activities. In parallel, attracting investment for our first plant has not been easy. But it has been an exciting learning curve and we are glad that we did not commit too early. We can pursue our strategy unimpeded while going for the best matches.

6. We are super happy about receiving first funding from the DBU (Deutsche Bundesstiftung Umwelt) for our green aerogel work. More public funding is upcoming 2024+.

7. After 1500+ hours of work between us and our partners, the basic engineering of our first multi-purpose aerogel production plant is almost complete. We created a robust concept based on next-generation technology and digital optimization. We are already working on further step-change technology for follow-up plants to make aerogels even more affordable.

8. The collaboration with Prof. Irina Smirnova and her Hamburg University of Technology group has been great (as in the previous 10+ years). Important R&D results have been achieved. The new pilot plant is close to commissioning. New exciting aerogel product lines that we could not have imagined before are coming into existence. Multiple patent applications were filed and more are in preparation.

9. Local business support in our area such as from WIGOS (Wirtschaftsförderungsgesellschaft Osnabrücker Land mbH) and the ICO (InnovationsCentrum Osnabrück) has been stellar.

Thank you very much to Marc, Dirk, Alberto, Raman, Pavel, Dr. Wulf, Marcus and to all our partners!

Two-year anniversary of aerogel-it celebrated in Hamburg.

aerogel-it among finalists of DGNB Sustainability Challenge 2023

We are very happy and honored to have been among the three start-up finalists chosen for this years #Sustainability Challenge 2023 by the DGNB German Sustainable Building Council.

Our CEO Marc presented our activities and materials like our 100% bio-based lignin aerogels as green superinsulation. Even though we did not win the prize in the end, we received lots and lots of positive feedback from the #Construction community members at the day of sustainability #TdN23 in Stuttgart. Our heartfelt congratulations go to the winner STRAMENTEC GmbH and their great straw-based solution!

Together with the huge number of requests we received over the last months from companies, home owners, architects etc., this confirms to us that we are on the right path with our approach and solutions. We firmly believe that aerogels will play a decisive role towards improved energy efficiency and CO2 reduction in the Construction industry – but also in multiple other industries ! The market signals are firming up.

An exciting period for us at aerogel-it.

Photos: DGNB

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Membership in C3 association, BAU 2023 and new aerogel products

We are very happy to announce that aerogel-it recently joined the Carbon Concrete Composite association. The team will be present at the BAU 2023 in München, where our 100% bio-based lignin aerogel and our biomineral aerogel will be exhibited in a carbon-reinforced concrete sandwich element on the C3 booth. A prefab element with our new aerogel products is shown in the photo below.

We strongly believe in the powerful combination of slim carbon concrete and aerogel insulation to minimize wall thickness and improve energy efficiency in use. With bio-based aerogels, embodied CO2 can be reduced strongly. With advanced modular prefab technology, as driven by C3, highly efficient construction will be possible.

Since our new bio-based aerogel products will still take some time to arrive as we are setting up financing followed by construction of our first production plant, we will soon offer other aerogel products to serve the already strong demand of our customers especially in the Construction industry – stay tuned for updates!

Photo by Mario Stelzmann/HTWK

Carbon concrete prefab element with lignin bioaerogel and biomineral aerogel by aerogel-it

Artikel über aerogel-it in der Frankfurter Rundschau

Die Frankfurter Rundschau hat am 28.03.23 online und in der Printausgabe über aerogel-it und unser biobasiertes Ligninaerogel als Superwärmedämmung berichtet. Marc, Dirk und unsere langjährige Kooperationspartnerin Prof. Dr. Irina Smirnova von der TUHH hatten die Gelegenheit mit Joachim Wille von der FR über das Thema zu sprechen.

Seit der Veröffentlichung der Förderung durch die Deutsche Bundesstiftung Umwelt im Rahmen des Green-Startup-Programms Anfang des Jahres haben wir aus verschiedensten Richtungen eine sehr große Anzahl Anfragen erhalten. Das zeigt uns dass wir mit unseren Materialinnovationen auf dem richtigen Weg sind – hin zu mehr Energieeffizienz, CO2-Reduktion und Dekarbonisierung für verschiedenste Anwendungen. Wir freuen uns sehr über das positive Feedback.

Das Team arbeitet weiter hart daran, erste Produkte in den Markt zu bringen. Es ist kein leichter Weg als Startup mit Materialfokus in Deutschland. Aber wir sind mit unserem Team und der mehr als zehnjährigen Vorerfahrung gut aufgestellt und sehen ein riesiges Potential im Bereich Aerogele.

Aerogel-it and Fibenol Collaborate for Sustainable Superinsulation

With the aim of taking the worldwide first lignin-based bioaerogels developed by aerogel-it to the next level, aerogel-it and Fibenol have collaborated to use the Fibenol biomaterial LIGNOVA as a highly sustainable raw material.

Joining forces with Fibenol has enabled aerogel-it to design a bioaerogel based on a new generation of lignin now produced by Fibenol directly from biomass. Like established silica aerogel products, lignin bioaerogel provides superinsulation properties and reduces the heat transfer within the tiny nanometer-sized pores compared to conventional insulation materials. Lignin bioaerogel has a significantly reduced CO2 impact of up to 95% while being 100% bio-based. aerogel-it has undertaken research and development efforts to ensure the sustainability of their products by utilizing raw materials from local natural and non-food sources.

The collaboration of aerogel-it and Fibenol is setting a great example for other companies to use biomaterials in their value chain. Though the collaboration is still in its early stages and further research and development is needed, this is a major stride forward for the industry. The use of these biomaterials can result in more sustainable products with improved thermal insulation properties and reduced CO2 impact. Companies should strive to utilize as much biomaterial as possible without compromising on product quality and sustainability. By using these biomaterials in their value chain, companies can reduce their environmental footprint and positively contribute to the green revolution.

About Fibenol: Fibenol implements new cutting-edge technology to produce bio-based raw materials like lignin, wood sugars, and specialty cellulose from wood residues. Fibenol’s innovative fractionation process converts more than 90% of woody biomass into high-value materials with minimal environmental impact. These sustainable bio-based materials can be used as replacements for fossil-based chemicals to produce cosmetics, plastics, construction materials, and many other products. Fibenol is pioneering groundbreaking solutions to enable industries to transition away from fossil resources and move towards a more sustainable future.

More information: www.fibenol.com

Follow us on LinkedIn: www.linkedin.com/company/Fibenol

About aerogel-it: aerogel-it is a German company that specializes in the development, manufacturing and scaling of aerogel materials. The company focusses mainly on bio-based product lines for thermal insulation but also other applications in the Pharma, Medical Care and Cosmetics sectors. aerogel-it utilizes innovative technology to create a variety of aerogel materials with superior thermal insulation properties. They strive to produce the highest performing aerogel materials – inspired by nature. At the same time aerogel-it leverages its globally leading aerogel manufacturing know-how to design next-generation production processes leading to lower aerogel cost – an important factor for their widespread acceptance.

More information: www.aerogel-it.de

Follow us on LinkedIn: www.linkedin.com/company/aerogel-it

Förderung durch Deutsche Bundestiftung Umwelt

Wir freuen uns sehr, mitteilen zu können, dass wir eine Förderung der Deutschen Bundesstiftung Umwelt (DBU) als Teil des Green-Startup-Programms erhalten!

Die DBU unterstützt unsere Mission, nachhaltige Hochleistungswärmedämmung auf Basis von Lignin zu entwickeln und in den Markt zu bringen, um so zu Energieeffizienz und Dekarbonisierung unter anderem im Gebäudesektor beizutragen.

Das Team von aerogel-it freut sich riesig über diese Anerkennung, die €125.000 Förderung sowie die fachliche Begleitung durch die DBU-Kollegen umfasst.

Details sind in der Pressemitteilung der DBU hier zu finden.

Supported by DBU