Aerogels are the lightest solid material in the world - they consist of up to 99.8 percent air. They are also sustainable, as they are made from the non-critical mineral raw material silicon dioxide. The fine structure of the aerogel firmly encloses air molecules, and the nanopores in the aerogel restrict the heat-conducting air molecules so much in their freedom of movement that no energy is passed on to other air molecules. This turns the aerogel into a high-performance insulator with very low thermal conductivity. However, the production of thermal superinsulators has so far been cost-intensive, which is why they have only been used in niche applications.

Fraunhofer UMSICHT set itself the goal of producing aerogels cost-effectively and thus making them suitable for mass production. Within six years, the researchers developed an innovative production process for aerogels that combines various production steps using supercritical CO₂ and thus significantly reduces production costs: manufacturing costs were cut by 70 percent and production time from more than ten to four hours. The production process is also completely free of environmentally hazardous chemicals and is therefore sustainable. The team successfully transferred the process to pilot plant scale and is now preparing to scale it up to industrial scale

Saving resources in the construction sector

For this development, Head of Institute Prof. Manfred Renner and his team received the NRW 2024 Innovation Award in the "innovation" category. On September 30, 2024, he accepted the award from Economics Minister Mona Neubaur at the official award ceremony at KOMED in Cologne. "At a time when climate change is an urgent reality, the energy transition plays a central role. The construction sector also offers a major lever for saving resources in the future. Innovations in the field of energy efficiency are indispensable. And this is precisely where Professor Renner's development comes in. The plant and process technology developed makes it possible to produce aerogels at competitive prices for the first time. In addition to the construction sector, other areas of application in which aerogels are used due to their material properties can also benefit from this - for example in the aerospace and automotive industries. This not only saves resources, developments such as these are a decisive locational advantage and ensure that NRW remains competitive," said the Minister.

"Congratulations to Professor Manfred Renner and the Fraunhofer UMSICHT team on this well-deserved award," said Professor Holger Hanselka, President of the Fraunhofer-Gesellschaft, on the occasion of the award ceremony. "The innovative, new manufacturing process for aerogels developed by Professor Renner and his team enables cost-effective and environmentally friendly production of the high-performance insulating material. We are thus bringing aerogels into widespread use - especially as an insulating material for the construction industry and lightweight construction."

North Rhine-Westphalia has been awarding the NRW Innovation Prize to individuals who develop and drive innovation in a special way since 2008. With a total of 200,000 euros, the NRW Innovation Award is the most highly endowed award of its kind in Germany after the Federal President's Future Prize. The award winners are selected by a high-caliber jury from many areas of the innovation system, which evaluates the transformation potential of the applications holistically. In addition to the "innovation" category, the jury awards prizes in the categories "innovation2business" (€ 25,000), "innovation2market" (€ 25,000) and "innovation4transformation" (€ 50,000).

Funding information:

The "Aerolight" project was funded by the Federal Ministry for Economic Affairs and Climate Protection Duration April 2021 to March 2024, funding reference 03LB4006