aerogel-it bei STEP USA in NYC

This week Marc and Dirk participated in the STEP USA GreenTech Program hosted in New York by the German American Chamber of Commerce, Inc. (GACC-NY). We joined a great line-up of GreenTech companies with Lignopure , carbonauten GmbH, HighLine Technology GmbH, fior familie GmbH, Cleancopter, Apollo Green Solutions and keywood GmbH.

We were truly blown away by the quality and intensity of the program led by Victoria Kaeser of GACC-NY and Brian Frumberg of VentureOut and hosted at multiple breathtaking locations throughout Manhattan:

  • GACC-NY CEO Susanne Gellert and team supported by Brian provided valuable insights into cultural, organizational and legal aspects surrounding the expansion to the US and specifically New York.

  • Anne-Sophie Mahle of EDCNYC and Carin Rising of ESD shared current GreenTech programs and support mechanisms relevant to businesses wanting to come to NYC and NY. Numerous projects provide collaboration possibilities as well as opportunities for startups to highlight their technologies in pilots within NYC. Also, sustainability goals of NYC were discussed.

  • Jeannette Williams and Steph Jones of the NYU Urban Future Lab presented activities around climate tech such as the ACRE Incubator.

  • Christian Joerg and team highlighted opportunities offered by the German Accelerator.

  • The amazing Jennifer Louie of Closed Loop Partners discussed some of the inner workings of investing approaches and also how new investment vehicles are developed to address current shortcomings e.g. for capex-heavy projects.

  • IP attorney and business angel Ray Farrell took up the tough task of explaining critical points surrounding IP in general and in the US specifically – absolutely crucial and often underestimated.

  • Matt Lopez of Revenue Nomad / formerly Skaled shared some of his extensive expertise on structuring sales processes to maximize revenue generation – which sometimes does get overlooked amongst the day to day challenges of a startup.

  • Brian expertly coached the startups to crystallize our offerings into 2-minute pitches – which many of them would not have believed to be possible. This training culminated in a pitch event at the Goethe Institute, where the startups pitched to a panel of investor experts as well as a crowd of 100+ guests. Throughout the evening, there were lively discussions and many great connections were made – all in a vibrant atmosphere!

  • After sessions, the group also had the chance to bond over Mexican food and drinks at Mezcali restaurant. And not to forget the fun visit to Pete’s Tavern to celebrate the conclusion of the pitch night.

For Marc and Dirk, the STEP USA program truly opened up a whole new perspective. They highly appreciated learning about GACC-NY as a strong partner for future expansion into the US. aerogel-it is highly grateful to N-Bank for supporting us and to GACC-NY for giving us the chance to be part of this journey.

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Battery Show 2024

Last week, Marc and Dirk visited The Battery Show Europe 2024 in sunny Stuttgart to check how aerogels as materials have fared in the electromobility industry and to also catch up with various contacts. The show was very crowded, and other than sausages and beer against cash – no cards accepted – at premium prices it was hard to get anything.

There were great discussions with Aspen Aerogels, Enersens, Tecman, Henkel, ISOVOLTA Group, Freudenberg Group, ALT Technologies and Culimeta, but also with former colleagues from BASF.

Compared to the previous years, the show had grown quite a bit but there was also a change of exhibitor line-up where some exhibitors from 2023 did not return to exhibit again.

Interestingly, aerogel was much more present in 2024 than it was in 2023 when it was still quite a secretive ingredient. Numerous cell-to-cell heat shields based on aerogel were exhibited this year.

In general, it was discussed that the battery safety regulations would now move towards full containment of thermal runaways as opposed to a 5 min time window. The discussion partners agreed that if valuable space needed to be conserved and the cell expansion accommodated at the same time, this would only be possible with aerogels.

It remains to be seen how the EV battery aerogel market will develop. China has seen an extreme increase in aerogel production capacity over the last years, and prices have fallen. Aspen Aerogels is dominating the US market and will continue to do so. Only in Europe there is no aerogel supplier as of now, even though there are various startups such as Keey Aerogel, Enersens and us from aerogel-it working on solutions. Cabot seems to have suspended production for the time being.

As aerogel-it, we are working on the most cost-effective production technology in combination with powerful aerogel formulations at lower cost that were previously not accessible. We are eager to see if we get to play our role in this challenging market!

Marc and Dirk at the Battery Show 2024 – having a much-needed break.

Worldwide biggest bioaerogel pilot plant inaugurated

We are very happy to share that the pilot plant our team built together with Hamburg University of Technology (TUHH) has now been officially inaugurated! See here for the press release (in German).

The inauguration ceremony with Marc and Prof. Dr. Irina Smirnova took place as part of a meeting of the Aerogel Cluster for Improved Energy Efficiency in Industrial Applications. This included participation of the Federal Ministry for Economic Affairs and Climate Action (BMWK) and the Projektträger Jülich.

The record-setting pilot plant is now the worldwide biggest facility for producing bioaerogels – including our 100% bio-based lignin aerogel as green space-saving superinsulation. It has a capacity of 150l of bioaerogel particles per day – this means an increase by a factor of ~100 from the previous lab scale! All of our new-developed aerogel materials can be produced on this true multi-purpose equipment. We can cover the full range of inorganic/biomineral to bio-based formulations as well as hybrids.

We could already validate completely new step-change and cost-saving process technology. One of our main objectives is to bring the cost of aerogels down decisively.

A big thank you to Alberto who literally built the plant almost single-handedly from process development, equipment design, mechanical building, electrical setup and programming! Dirk was excited to be part of the project and to bring his industrial aerogel production experience to the table.

We will share more details soon. Stay tuned!

Photo: TUHH

Inauguration of the pilot plant. From left too right: Marc Fricke, CEO aerogel-it, Prof. Irina Smirnova, Vice President Research of TUHH, Prof. Alexander Penn, Dean of Studies Process Technology, Dr. Pavel Gurikov and Alberto Bueno (aerogel-it und TUHH).

Lightweight building aesthetics and energy efficiency? No contradiction. The Triesch Residence as case study.

The climate change as well as surging energy prices create a pressing trend towards more energy efficiency in buildings to lower carbon dioxide emissions and energy consumption for heating and cooling. While essential from the sustainability point of view, the drive towards more energy efficiency has a well visible and undesirable impact on building aesthetics: Walls need to become increasingly thicker since layers of thermal insulation material such as mineral wool, expanded polystyrene or polyurethane foam need to keep up with the ever stricter energy-efficiency requirements. There is only so much performance available from these well-established thermal insulation materials.

This translates to ever thicker insulation layers and walls. However, as a downside, the resulting building designs become heavier in appearance. Windows become deeper and restrict the outside view. Altogether, an unpleasant, cumbersome aesthetic sensation is created.

Aerogels are a high-performance alternative to conventional thermal insulation. Currently, these materials are used where space matters most. Usually two aspects are relevant in construction:

  • Where existing buildings require energetic renovation to improve energy efficiency, often little space is available for thermal insulation e.g. on the inner side of exterior walls, in wall cavities or beneath floors. Strongly limited space benefits from the highest possible performance of aerogels – to maximize energy efficiency.

  • For new building projects, the higher performance of aerogels enables slimmer wall construction. This conserves valuable useable space in the building. While using aerogels seems expensive at first, the use of these high-performance products pays off in many cases. The additional space the slimmer wall design creates leads to additional revenue that can cover the cost of the aerogel materials and more, which makes the decision on using aerogel materials economically attractive to investors.

But a third aspect is often overlooked: Aerogels also enable new possibilities in terms of building aesthetics, since much more lightweight building designs become possible. Construction no longer needs to be heavyweight to be energy efficient.

The Triesch Residence (photo: Dirk Weinrich).

This has been impressively achieved with the Triesch Residence in Berlin. When furniture expert Lars Triesch decided to translate the beautiful building design of architect Ray Kappe from California to Berlin, he was confronted with a dilemma: For the original building in the United States with its breathtaking lightweight design based on redwood and concrete no thermal insulation had been used. The more extreme Berlin climate would not allow such an approach, less so since current energy efficiency standards were to be met within the project.

Happily, Triesch found a potential solution when learning about aerogel materials and the pioneering work of chemical company BASF in this space. He contacted Dr. Marc Fricke, now CEO of aerogel-it GmbH and at the time BASF business development manager for aerogel materials. Dr. Fricke was immediately convinced that aerogels were the key solution for the Triesch building design and brought architect and aerogel construction experts Dr. Alexander Kahnt and Matthias Tietze of Kahnt & Tietze GmbH into the project. Together, the team re-designed the original details of the Ray Kappe building. They incorporated aerogels into the building envelope to achieve the desired energy efficiency performance of the building while maintaining the original lightweight appearance of the Kappe design:

  • The redwood wall elements and pillars were re-designed as cassettes of a slim redwood envelope enclosing an aerogel-containing thermal-insulation layer.

  • The massive, steel-reinforced concrete elements were re-designed as slim carbon-reinforced, prefabricated concrete sandwich elements with a central aerogel-containing thermal-insulation layer.

Keeping the original slim construction was only possible due to the excellent performance of the space-saving aerogel materials. The result was extraordinary and the building iconic. Compared to conventional construction with standard thermal insulation, the wall thickness was reduced to around 20 cm with aerogel insulation as opposed to 30-40 cm. The slim walls had a huge impact on building aesthetics. The benefits became visible after successful completion of the construction project: The Kappe design retained its aesthetic appeal in the new building in Berlin.

Aerogel superinsulation is cut to the desired shape by the construction team on site (photo: HTWK Leipzig).

Aerogel superinsulation is applied to the wooden structure of the Triesch residence (photo: HTWK Leipzig).

Recently, the team had the chance to visit the Triesch Residence and experience the building in use. After three years, owner Lars Triesch was more than happy with the experience of living in the building and with the high level of energy efficiency that has been achieved. Despite the open and lightweight structure with its slim walls, the heating system was only rarely required by the family.

The aesthetics of the design and its potential for future projects impressed the aerogel experts of aerogel-it GmbH and Kahnt & Tietze GmbH. The two companies recently signed a memorandum of understanding on collaborating on the combination of prefabrication technology and slim aerogel insulation. The visit convinced all parties that this technology combination makes sense.

View from the inside: The slim wall and pillars connected to the glass elements seem to be massive redwood but are hollow cassettes containing aerogel superinsulation (photo: Dirk Weinrich).

The slim, lightweight redwood wall construction in the kitchen (photo: Dirk Weinrich).

The slim, lightweight carbon concrete construction in the sitting area which contains a layer of aerogel superinsulation (photo: Dirk Weinrich).

The project team visits the Triesch Residence three years after completion of the project (from left to right: Dr. Alexander Kahnt, Lars Triesch, Dr. Marc Fricke, Dr. Matthias Tietze, Dr. Dirk Weinrich; photo: Lars Triesch).

For more information on the Triesch Residence, see here.

For more information on lightweight construction with aerogels, contact us or Kahnt&Tietze GmbH.

aerogel-it und Kahnt & Tietze

Das aerogel-it-Team freut sich, mitteilen zu können, dass aerogel-it und Kahnt & Tietze vor kurzem eine Absichtserklärung zu einer strategische Partnerschaft unterzeichnet haben. Die beiden Partner planen die Skalierung der leistungsstarken Kombination aus Carbon-bewehrten Betonfertigteilen mit Hochleistungs-Wärmedämmung wie Aerogelen und VIPs. Mit dieser Kombination werden schlankste Wandkonstruktionen möglich.

Die Partner sehen in diesem Ansatz ein enormes Potenzial, der zudem die Möglichkeit bietet, drängende aktuelle Probleme anzugehen. Es ergeben sich zahlreiche Vorteile, wie zum Beispiel:

1️⃣ Attraktive Platzersparnis: Die Wandstärke kann deutlich reduziert werden – z.B. von derzeit ca. 40 cm auf ca. 20 cm (siehe Bild unten). Das spart wertvollen Platz – innen oder außen. Dies ist besonders relevant für stark verdichtete Gebiete wie größere Städte.

2️⃣ Neue architektonische Gestaltungsmöglichkeiten: Dünnere Wände ermöglichen eine ästhetisch deutlich ansprechendere Bauweise im Vergleich zu den derzeitigen Standardkonstruktionen. Leichte und filigrane Strukturen werden möglich, ohne dass die Energieeffizienz darunter leidet.

3️⃣ Qualität und Projektabwicklung I: Fertigteiltechnologie ermöglicht eine schnelle und effiziente sowie digitalisierte Produktion. Das führt zu höherer Qualität, geringeren Fehlerquoten und einer einfacheren und zuverlässigeren Bauprojektplanung.

4️⃣ Qualität, Projektabwicklung II – plus Zirkularität: Mittelfristig werden die Partner Wandelemente so gestalten, dass sie sich leicht mechanisch montieren und demontieren lassen, um die Bauzeit vor Ort zu verkürzen. Dies fördert zudem die Kreislaufwirtschaft und Wiederverwendung. Bindemittel und Ortbeton werden soweit möglich vermieden. Reparaturen und Demontagen werden einfacher.

5️⃣ CO2-Einsparungen: Schlankere Wandelemente aus Carbonbeton sparen Ressourcen und CO2. Es wird weniger Beton pro Wandelement benötigt. Transportemissionen werden reduziert – mehr Wandelemente pro LKW bzw. weniger Gewicht pro Wandelement, das transportiert werden muss.

6️️⃣ Weitere CO2-Einsparungen: Carbonbewehrung ermöglicht den Einsatz von nicht-alkalischen Betonmischungen mit geringerem CO2-Fußabdruck im Vergleich zu herkömmlichem Beton.

7️⃣ Und noch mehr CO2-Einsparungen: Mittelfristig werden die aktuellen Aerogel- und VIP-Produkte in den geplanten Bauystemen durch die neuen biobasierten Aerogel-Produkte von aerogel-it ergänzt. Dies wird den CO2-Fußabdruck weiter senken und die Nachhaltigkeit des Gesamtsystems sowie die Recyclingfähigkeit verbessern.

Die beiden Teams um Alexander Kahnt, Matthias Tietze, Marc Fricke und Dirk Weinrich arbeiten bereits seit fast 10 Jahren zusammen und haben Projekte auf Basis dieser Technologiekombination durchgeführt (Tietze-Haus in Leipzig, CUBE in Dresden, Triesch-Residenz in Berlin). Beide Partner sind bereits Teil des C³ – Carbon Concrete Composite e.V.

Für 2024 sind mehrere neue Projekte in der Pipeline, die in den nächsten Jahren stark anwachsen wird. Weitere Updates werden folgen.

Schlanke Kombination von Carbonbeton mit Aerogel-basierter Wärmedämmung (Mitte und rechts, Silicaaerogel-Blanket und PU-Aerogel SLENTITE) verglichen mit Mineralwolle (links). Quelle: HTWK Leipzig.

Von links nach rechts: Dr. Dirk Weinrich, Dr. Marc Fricke (aerogel-it GmbH), Dr. Alexander Kahnt, Matthias Tietze (Kahnt & Tietze GmbH). Quelle: Dirk Weinrich.

aerogel-it auf dem Batterietag NRW 2024

Das aerogel-it-Team freut sich darauf, im Rahmen des Batterietags NRW am 09.04 in Münster einen Überblick über heutige und zukünftige Aerogeltechnologien für die Elektromobilität zu geben (12:15 Uhr).

Das Programm findet sich hier.

Aerogele spielen eine zunehmend wichtige Rolle bei Wärmemanagement und Batteriesicherheit in Elektrofahrzeugen z.B. als platzsparende Hitzeschilde in Batterien oder auch in Batterieabdeckungen. Die größten Kapazitäten werden aktuell in China und den USA aufgebaut. In Europa gibt es aktuell nur wenig Aerogelproduktion gemessen am möglichen Bedarf über die nächsten 5-10 Jahre.

aerogel-it vertreibt zusammen mit Partnern weltweit Aerogelprodukte für verschiedenste Anwendungen und Industrien z.B. das Hitzeschild EAH auf Basis von Silicaaerogel. Darüber hinaus entwickelt das Team neuartige Aerogelmaterialien der nächsten Generation sowie leistungsfähigere und effizientere Herstellungsprozesse, um den ökologischen Fußabdruck und die Wettbewerbsfähigkeit von Aerogelen zu erhöhen.

Article on aerogel heat shields for EV batteries to prevent thermal runaway

Did you know that aerogels are a powerful solution to ensure the safety of electrical batteries e.g. in electrical vehicles?

As core component of thermal barriers, they contain the heat flow of battery cells that suffer from thermal runaway. In this way, they protect adjacent battery cells, thus preventing dangerous chain reactions across the entire battery.

Compared to other materials such as ceramic papers or silicone foams, aerogels bring several key advantages to the table:

1️⃣ They are thermal superinsulators which means that thermal barriers based on aerogel can be very thin. This frees up valuable space for more battery cells (more power) or more room in the vehicle.

2️⃣ Due to their nanoporous structure, they retain their insulation performance even when being compressed. And this is necessary since the battery cells expand over the lifetime of the battery, which reduces the space for the thermal barriers. In many cases, the compression can even improve the insulation performance of aerogels.

3️⃣ Due to their low density, aerogels are also very lightweight.

For more details on aerogels in EV batteries, check out a great article our aerogel colleagues from Cabot Corporation published on Battery-News. Along with Aspen Aerogels, BASF and others, Cabot were true pioneers in the aerogel field when the first aerogel wave started in the 1990s.

Thin thermal barriers become possible with aerogels. Source: batterynews.com / Cabot Corporation.

As aerogel-it, we want to support the transformation towards electrical vehicles with our aerogel know-how and products. We offer an aerogel-based heat shield with excellent performance and are also working on further improved solutions based on our innovative aerogel formulation platform and particle technology.

EV heat shield available from aerogel-it. Source: aerogel-it GmbH.

Start-up-Radar für die Bauwirtschaft: Fokus Nachhaltigkeit

aerogel-it ist Teil des Startup-Radars der Bauwirtschaft mit Fokus Nachhaltigkeit und Kreislaufwirtschaft – erstellt von BEFIVE by UnternehmerTUM.

Wir freuen uns sehr über diese Anerkennung unserer Arbeit und darüber, in so prominenter Gesellschaft zu sein.

Mit Superwärmedämmung wie Aerogelen oder Vakuumpaneelen kann in Gebäuden wertvoller Platz eingespart und höchste Energieeffizienz erreicht werden. Beides sind relevante Themen für Neubauten und energetische Sanierung von Bestandsbauten in der Immobilienwirtschaft.

Unser 100% biobasiertes Lignin-Bioaerogel als grüne Superwärmedämmung ermöglicht dabei eine zusätzliche Reduzierung des CO2-Fußabdrucks.

Start-up-Radar für die Baubranche, © UnternehmerTUM GmbH / BEFIVE

Lignin-Bioaerogel im Gebäudeforum Klimaneutral

Das Team von aerogel-it freut sich sehr über die Aufnahme unseres 100% biobasierten Lignin-Bioaerogels in die Sektion “Best Practice” des Gebäudeforums Klimaneutral. Link zum Eintrag hier.

Das Gebäudeforum Klimaneutral der Deutschen Energiagentur (dena) ist ein Fachforum zum Thema Klimaneutralität in Gebäuden und Quartieren. Durch gegenseitigen Informationsaustausch soll das Potenzial des Gebäuebereichs für die Umsetzung der Energiewende stärker genutzt werden 🌍.

Wir arbeiten weiter hart daran, unsere neuen Produkte möglichst schnell in den Markt zu bringen und so einen Beitrag zu leisten.

Lignin-Bioaerogel von aerogel-it im Gebäudeforum Klimaneutral der dena.

Heinze Klimafestival für die Bauwende in Berlin

Letzte Woche konnten Marc und Dirk die Aktivitäten von aerogel-it auf dem Heinze Klimafestival für die Bauwende in Berlin präsentieren.

Herausragend war das sehr starke Interesse – am Stand wurden nahezu durchgängig Gespräche geführt. Insbesondere Architekten und Planer waren deutlich intensiver als in den vergangenen Jahren auf der Suche nach neuen Lösungen für die energetische Sanierung. Unsere platzsparenden, biobasierten Aerogelprodukte wie das Ligninaerogel haben dazu sehr viel positives Feedback erhalten. Mit unseren bereits verfügbaren Produkten SLENTITE und Oryza können zudem schon heute schlanke Dämmlösungen für innen und außen umgesetzt werden.

Das aerogel-it-Team hat sich sehr über den Besuch von Architektin und Bauingenieurin Susanne Kirmse von unseren Partnern Kahnt & Tietze aus dem Umfeld des C³ – Carbon Concrete Composite e.V. gefreut, mit denen wir seit vielen Jahren eng zusammenarbeiten. Susanne plant neue platz- und ressourcensparende Baukonzepte auf Basis von schlankstem carbonfaserbewehrtem Beton und Aerogelwärmedämmung. Projekte werden zeitnah umgesetzt. Bald dazu mehr!

Marc, Dirk und Susanne am Stand von aerogel-it auf dem Klimafestival. Bild: Dirk Weinrich.