GLOBAL AEROGEL MARKET REPORTPosted by Aashita Maurya on December 21st, 2020 Market Overview and Latest Updates: Global Aerogel Market is expected to reach USD XX Billion by 2028 from USD XX Billion in 2019 at a CAGR of XX % during the forecast period. Aerogels are synthetically produced advanced material offerings which are utilized in a variety of applications ranging from thermal insulation, coatings, in construction applications and others. The product is known to have significantly high porosity, density, can be utilized and modified in different chemical structuring. The materials formulated from aerogel exhibit certain classifications such as being good insulators, catalysts, ferroelectric features as well as optical features and a variety of others. The market is currently experiencing strong growth on account of the expanding applications of aerogel in numerous end use industries. For instance, it is employed in the aerospace industry in the manufacturing of wetsuits and spacesuits. It is also used in the construction sector as a superlight concrete and wall insulator. Besides this, aerogel serves as a crucial component in the manufacturing of fire suits, spacecraft and vehicles due to its superior thermal insulation property. Additionally, owing to its several other advantageous properties, it is gaining popularity in the electronics, and oil and gas industries worldwide. Furthermore, some of the leading vendors operating in the industry are focusing on increasing their budget for research and development (R&D) activities to introduce polymer-based aerogels that have enhanced strength and flexibility. Such steps are expected to be instrumental in expanding their existing consumer base and market share, thus contributing to the market growth. The growing demand for light-weight and thinner substitute for insulation materials is one of the primary factors driving the global aerogel market growth. With several countries working on minimizing their energy consumption, and stringent building insulation standard being implemented, there is a rising demand for a substitute of the traditional products. Aerogels, on the other hand, can be used as an ideal replacement to traditional insulation materials due to low thermal conductivity and lesser space occupation. Due to these properties, aerogels are widely being implemented in oil pipelines, construction, and industrial insulation. The growing use of aerogel in apparels for colder temperatures is one of the major aerogel market trends. A 3mm layer of aerogel can protect the human body at temperatures of up to -50°C. Additionally, aerogel exhibits several properties like fire and water resistance, thermal resistance, and flexibility, which makes it ideal for winter clothing. Major Development:
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Market Dynamics: TRENDS
Silica aerogel is one of the most common types of aerogel, and the most extensively used one. Currently, silica aerogel is commercially obtained usingsilica gel,or by using a modifiedStober process. Upon exposure to an open environment, the silica content in silica aerogel solidifies into the three-dimensional structure and makes up about 3% of the volume. The remaining 97% of the volume is completely composed of air in extremely small nanopores. Hence, due to the presence of only 3% of solid content, conduction through the silica aerogel is extremely very low. Silica aerogels also have a high optical transmission of about 99% and a low refractive index of about 1.05.-¹ Silica aerogel has low density, low thermal conductivity, low sound speed, low refractive index, and high transparency, which makes it suitable to be used for supercapacitors, water deionizers, sensors for gas detection, pollution filters, dielectric integrated circuits, absorbents, catalysis, matching layers for acoustical transducers, sound insulation, kinetic energy absorbers, sound insulation, impact protection, nuclear particle detectors, and many more.-¹ The use of silica aerogel is gaining significant attention from the aerospace industry in recent years, due to its exceptional insulation properties and light-weight nature. In the oil and gas industry, it is widely used in insulation packs for oil and gas subsea pipelines. In the construction industry, its application can be found in architectural panels, glass units, and tensile roofing systems, among other applications. -¹ Hence, with increasing adoption of silica aerogel by various end-user industries, the demand for of silica aerogel is estimated to rapidly increase over the forecast period. DRIVERS
Aerogels have a thermal efficiency which is 2-4 times higher than that of conventional insulation materials such as glass filled foams, fibers, and metals. In addition, water- repellent/waterproof characteristic makes aerogel ideal for external insulation in various applications. The superior thermal resistance of aerogel materials shows huge potential in the oil & gas and petrochemical industries where insulation is of prime importance. A large volume of oil and gas is transported from sea to port through pipelines. To meet increasing demand for natural gas, developing countries are planning an offshore delivery of LNG for secure handling and safety purpose. One of the major challenges faced for this purpose is to withstand a tough sea environment. This is particularly in case of crude oil when it comes out of the subsea well at a temperature higher than the sea water. If the temperature of oil cools down, the pipelines no longer remain operative. On the other hand, LNG needs to be in liquid form until it reaches onshore regasification terminals. Cellular glass and polyurethane foam were commonly used to insulate these pipelines. These traditional materials have low thermal resistance as compared to aerogel. In addition to superior thermal performance, aerogel materials are hydrophobic and also show significant resistance to flame and weather.
Several countries are working toward minimizing their energy consumption. For example, South Korea has made it mandatory to increase the insulation level of buildings by xx %. Among other changes, the update contains more stringent specifications for insulation in new buildings. In Europe too, there are stringent regulations for building insulation standards. The demand for insulation materials is expected to rise on a large scale due to the implementation of such standards. Traditional insulation materials such as polyurethane foam, mineral wool, rock wool, and stone wool have certain drawbacks. For example, thick layers of these materials are required to achieve the desired R-value, which results in loss of valuable floor space in case of new construction. For old buildings, it is even tougher to introduce high insulation level, as extra layers lead to changes in the aesthetic appearance of a house. Hence, to fulfill energy standards set by various regulatory bodies and to avoid structural compromises in new constructions, aerogels are projected to be an ideal replacement for traditional insulation materials. Owing to its low thermal conductivity and less thickness, aerogel materials can save a substantial amount of energy which otherwise would have been used for heating and cooling purposes. Aerogels are used for apparels in cold region due to its properties such as low weight and low thermal conductivity. They are also widely used for industrial insulation.
Aerogel is a reusable material that can be used consecutively for a chain of applications and can be disposed of safely after completion of its life cycle. For example, aerogel blanket used for building insulation application can be reused by processing it as composites or additives for other applications. Growing public and government awareness about environmental friendly insulating materials is also expected to increase the demand for aerogel. Discarded traditional insulation materials may pose a threat to the surrounding environment by releasing toxins. In addition, the useful land is occupied by dumped insulation materials. Most of the traditional insulating materials are non-recyclable and non-biodegradable. In contrast, aerogels can be reused for as composites and additives in applications such as soil conditioners, fertilizers, and performance coatings. RESTRAINS
The high production cost of aerogel is one of the major restraints that affect the growth of the aerogel market. The production cost of silica aerogels is primarily linked to three main factors. These include high cost of raw materials (for alkoxide-based precursor materials), cumbersome process technologies (solvent exchange steps, long reaction times limited by diffusion), and perhaps most importantly, the installation of relatively small production capacities of the companies. The manufacturing of aerogel materials requires extensive R&D which makes the entire process costly. Synthetic methods applied to manufacture aerogel materials are not much versatile. Aerogel manufacturing requires sophisticated facility as the production mechanisms are highly specialized. The most expensive step in aerogel manufacturing process is supercritical drying. The sol-gel is a technique used to dry aerogel material at ambient conditions and later provides chemical treatment to stop its shrinkage. This technology has a slow process, resulting in longer drying times for aerogel. Various efforts have been made to reduce the production cost of aerogels. For example, a research team at Yonsei University (Seoul, South Korea) developed a technology for rapid expulsion of water from the gel. Through this experiment, 94% porosity was achieved in aerogels, helping speed up the drying process of gels making it less costly. However, factors such as lack of commercialization and low industrial production capacity of this technique are responsible for the high production cost.
Though aerogel materials have a high strength-to-weight ratio, they are generally brittle and exhibit poor mechanical strength. It means that aerogel materials can hold (theoretically) 500- 4,000 times of their weight in applied force provided the force is gentle and uniformly applied. Additionally, most aerogels as produced are extremely brittle and fragile (they tend to fragment and pulverize) which makes them difficult for structural applications. Thus, their structures are reinforced to obtain aerogels that are strong enough to withstand mechanical stress. Silica aerogels can be incorporated into the polymer for enhancement in mechanical strength. Cross-linked polymer aerogels have better mechanical strength than their silica counterparts. However, the processes employed to prepare polymer-reinforced silica aerogels require multiple washing and soaking steps for infiltration of the polymer precursors after gelation and supercritical drying. This makes the entire manufacturing process more complex and costlier, which may hamper the growth of the market. Moreover, due to its low mechanical strength its use is restricted to the applications where its poor mechanical strength does not affect the application. However, the companies such as Aerogel Technologies (US) and BASF (Germany) have been developing mechanically strong aerogel materials. This development may enlarge the applications of aerogel and increase the demand in near future. OPPORTUNITIES
Aerogel is finding new applications in the apparel market in the colder regions. Because of its exceptional physical properties, aerogels are used in this sector. For example, a 3mm layer of aerogel can protect human body at a severe temperature of -50°C. This would result in much lighter clothing in cold regions than those available at present. It will be beneficial to mountaineers who usually carry heavy luggage to protect themselves from adverse conditions. Other factors such as fire & water resistance, thermal resistance, and flexibility make aerogel a preferred material for the clothing application. Apart from apparels, it is also used in different applications such as footwear, jackets, tents, and other outdoor gears used in extreme climates for insulation. Segments covered for the Global Aerogel Market: By Type:
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By Region Analysis: The global aerogels market is projected to experience increased development in North America, which is likely to account for a major share in the aerogels market. North America is followed by the Asia Pacific based on aerogel consumption all over the world, owing to the huge amount of usage in China. On the other hand, the European market is projected to be the most important region, based on annual development, in the coming future. Usage of the aerogel in North America is anticipated to be the highest due to growing demand and popularity of aerogel for gas & oil and construction applications. Europe is estimated to experience a rapid market growth in the coming years. By Region: North America
South America
Europe
Asia-Pacific
Middle East and Africa
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