The main objective of the project was the development of the pilot-scale production system for the new generation of nanoporous organic and hybrid aerogels with multiple functions for application in gas and humidity adsorption, personal care and food. The focus was on rapid manufacturing in the form of spherical particles in order to reduce process time and overall process costs. The goal was to insure the high porosity and internal pore size distribution of the particles in order to provide the high surface area, pore volume and defined pore size needed for good adsorption capability. The production of organic aerogel particles in sufficient quantities will provide the opportunity to build prototypes for applications in gas and humidity adsorption and food and to carry out the corresponding tests. Based on the test results, the properties of aerogels were fine-tuned for the corresponding real applications in industrial environments. By this means it was intended to increase the technology readiness level of organic aerogels production from TLR 4 to TLR 6 by the end of the project.

Legacy

In cooperation with well-known industrial partners, the European research project NanoHybrids has successfully developed production systems for organic aerogel particles and manufactured larger quantities of these novel materials for the first time. This represents an important step towards industrial mass production and application of particulate aerogels by the industrial and research consortium. The success is the culmination of three and a half years of intensive work on particulate aerogels, their manufacturing processes and prototypes for industrial application coordinated by Professor Irina Smirnova of Hamburg University of Technology (TUHH) with BASF as industrial lead.