Refurbishment : Do aerogels solve our heating problem?

So far, however, aerogels are still a niche product. The production capacities are low, the costs are high. Start-ups like Airgel-it are currently trying to change that. Originally, Marc Fricke pushed ahead with the development of aerogels at the chemical company BASF. Two years ago, the chemist founded the company in Osnabrück with six other people. Airgel-it offers silica aerogels, polyurethane aerogels and aerogels on a natural basis such as lignin as powder, granules, mats or pressed plates. The latter is a biopolymer, it forms between 20 and 30 percent of the cell walls of wood. Put simply, it makes you knock on wood. It is separated during the manufacture of paper, otherwise the sheets would turn yellow. So far, however, relatively little has happened to the waste material. Airgel-it now wants to use this lignin.