aerogel-it acquires SLENTITE® technology from BASF

In 2021 BASF ended its R&D and sales activities of the polyurethane-based aerogel SLENTITE®. The product will continue to be available on the market, as the newly founded aerogel-it GmbH is taking over all activities from the beginning of 2022.

SLENTITE® is the first high-performance insulating material based on a polyurethane aerogel to be made available as a mechanically strong panel. As a pioneering product, its superfine, open-porous structure ensures highly efficient thermal insulation solutions and supports the drive towards higher energy efficiency and lower energy costs. Aerogels are highly porous materials consisting of up to 99% air, with a large internal surface area and superfine pore structures.

aerogel-it was founded 2021 in Osnabrück, Germany by former BASF employees Dr. Marc Fricke and Dr. Dirk Weinrich together with three aerogel experts from the TUHH group of Prof. Dr.-Ing. Irina Smirnova and two senior business advisors. aerogel-it researches, develops and manufactures novel aerogels such as bioaerogels based on natural raw materials, biomineral aerogels as well as next-generation aerogels based on the SLENTITE® technology. The company concentrates globally leading aerogel expertise in its founding team and partners.

Resource and energy efficiency, carbon footprints as well as product end-of-life solutions are urgent topics businesses face. This translates into a growing demand for new materials, which Aerogel-it addresses with its sustainable aerogels for numerous applications. Managing Director Dr. Marc Fricke: “We achieve outstanding combinations of properties with our aerogels based on natural raw materials. Our customers are supplied with advanced products that are employed as high-performance insulation materials or for the load and release of active substances.”

SLENTITE panel

Collaboration of Lignopure and aerogel-it

We are happy to announce that aerogel-it GmbH and Lignopure GmbH have agreed on a collaboration on the development of new materials for Biomedicine and Cosmetic applications. We are excited to push lignin as one of the most interesting green raw materials for a sustainable future!

As aerogel-it, we will bring our globally leading aerogel material and processing expertise to the table for these next-level green aerogel-based products.

The agreement was signed by CEOs Joana Gil Chavez and Marc Fricke at TUHH where both companies have had a fruitful history of academic work and industrial collaborations, thanks to Prof. Dr.-Ing. Irina Smirnova, the PhD supervisor of many co-founders of both companies.

LinkedIn

Joana Gil Chavez and Marc Fricke, CEOs of Lignopure GmbH and aerogel-it GmbH

Talk at Elbe-NH Webinar

At the ELBE-NH webinar this week, our CEO Marc Fricke had the chance to present our company, materials and mission in a talk along with two other great startups, Lignopure and Mushlabs – thank you!

ELBE-NH focusses on the utilization of biorefinery material streams such as lignin and sugar-containing hydrolysates.

For us as aerogel-it, materials from the biorefinery are interesting as starting materials for green aerogels – for thermal insulation or as carrier materials.

See also this article in biooekonomie.de (in German).

 

Sirius Business Park in Buxtehude

As of 01.10.21, aerogel-it rents space in a hall of the Sirius Business Park in Buxtehude! Our colleagues from the start-up Lignopure are already setting up their first production plant for lignin products there, and we are excited to have them as neighbours! Despite being a great team, their expertise and market access could lead to interesting opportunities for both companies. We plan to use the space as a workshop for R&D, for aerogel processing and for shipping and later also for production.

aerogel-it GmbH founded

Today we finally founded our company! We are happy and excited to officially start our work at our office in the ICO in Osnabrück.

aerogel-it team in front of ICO Osnabrück