Limburg-based Aerobel invests €30 million in production of super-insulating material
Aerobel is investing €30 million in production capacity for the insulation material aerogel. The 3.5-year-old Limburg company developed a process to make this ‘super insulation’ affordable for construction applications.
Aerobel sees a bright future for aerogel, an insulating material invented about 100 years ago by American engineer Samuel Kistner, but used only in high-end niche applications such as insulating astronauts’ spacesuits. For more everyday applications, such as insulation foam for construction, there was no process that made inexpensive mass production possible.
The essentials
- The Limburg-based company Aerobel is investing €30 million in the commercial production of the insulation material aerogel.
- The company is initially targeting the construction sector and is working with, among others, a Dutch provider of insulation solutions.
- Building materials group Fedrus is supporting the expansion plans with funding and expertise.
Scale-up Aerobel says it has found that production method. It convinced several larger business partners to join its venture. Puurs-based building materials group Fedrus International is providing part of the €30 million Aerobel needs to develop its first commercial production line. The company intends to market its aerogel under the brand name Terragel.
Aerobel has already found several strategic partners that signed letters of intent to work with the product. One of the most important is the Dutch group Takkenkamp, which specialises in sustainable insulation. The company wants to use the aerogel to offer cavity-wall insulation that performs so well that separate external façade insulation is no longer necessary.
More energy-efficient
“The production process comprises six steps, five of which are fairly well known and one of which is completely new.” — Sam Chartouni, CEO Aerobel
Co-founder and CEO Sam Chartouni cannot reveal in detail what makes the process so special. “The production process comprises six steps, five of which are fairly well known and one of which is completely new,” he says. “We have also managed to make the process more energy-efficient and faster. A production cycle takes 2 hours with us, compared with 8 to 12 hours using the conventional process.”
Aerogel consists of 95 percent air, which makes it very light while still giving it considerable load-bearing strength. It is made from silica, a raw material that is abundantly available and can be recovered from waste streams, including from the glass industry or glass wool. “We use no toxic solvents and no petroleum-based chemicals. Because aerogel is water-repellent, it lasts a long time, making it suitable for circular use,” says Chartouni. He wants to position the product as a sustainable solution.
Aerobel also wants to position the insulation material on the market as a sustainable solution. © Debby Termonia
But first, a scale-up phase is needed, a risky and uncertain step on the road to mass production. “It is not straightforward because it is a complex product involving several chemical reactions that take place simultaneously,” says Chartouni. “But we are not going straight from the lab to industrial scale either. We have already built a pilot installation that can produce 300 times more than at laboratory scale. In the next phase, we want to multiply that by another 60. Depending on demand, we can later scale up by another factor of 10.”
Binders
The scale-up already has some experience with commercial production. It has two products on the market: aerobinders, which are used as binders in insulation systems. Those products are already sold in ten countries and recently earned the company a podium place in Voka Limburg’s Limburg Export Award.
Chartouni says he wants to produce in Belgium to safeguard quality. He plans to recruit around 50 people in the coming years, including “both lower- and higher-skilled workers”.
Pipelines
Aerobel is giving itself two years to build its production installation. Initially, it will do so at its site in Genk, but the company is taking possible expansion at another location in Limburg into account. Within five years, the company wants to have produced 845,000 m² of aerogel, an amount capable of insulating 8,500 homes. The Dutch company Takkenkamp has taken an option on that entire production volume.
Aerobel is focusing on the construction sector but does not rule out targeting other markets with its insulation later. The material is also used to insulate oil and gas pipelines. Because its high insulation value means only a thin layer is needed, aerogel helps reduce the weight of pipelines. It can also be of interest in batteries, because it only melts or ignites at very high temperatures.
Aerobel
- Founded in March 2020. The company moved from Bilzen to Genk in April 2023.
- Management: Sam Chartouni (CEO and director), Niels Diepvens (finance director and director), Steve De Pooter (technology director) and Tom Vandermeeren (researcher).
- The company employs twelve people. According to Chartouni, Aerobel generates more than €1 million in revenue.
Originally written by Wim De Preter and published in De Tijd on 10 October 2023.
