Aerogel Product Applications for High-Temperature Thermal Insulation

• Published in: Energies (Basel) Vol. 15; no. 20; p. 7792
• Main Authors: Fedyukhin, Alexander V., Strogonov, Konstantin V., Soloveva, Olga V., Solovev, Sergei A., Akhmetova, Irina G., Berardi, Umberto, Zaitsev, Mark D., Grigorev, Daniil V.
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Basel MDPI AG 01.10.2022
• Subjects: aerogel; Aerogels; Basalt; basalt fiber; Cellulose; Composite materials; Composition; Flow rates; Flow velocity; Flue gas; Gas pipelines; Graphene; Heat conductivity; Heat resistance; High temperature; high-temperature thermal insulation; Humidity; Industrial production; Insulating materials; Insulation; Insulation (Heat); Mathematical optimization; Methods; Morphology; Natural gas; natural gas furnace; Oxidizing agents; Phase transitions; Physical properties; Pipelines; Pore size; Porous materials; Temperature; Temperature gradients; Temperature requirements; thermal conductivity; Thermal imaging; Thermal insulation; Thermal properties; Thermophysical properties; Thickness; Russia
• ISSN: 1996-1073; 1996-1073
• DOI: 10.3390/en15207792

This paper presents the results of theoretical and experimental studies to determine the optimal thickness of thermal insulation from basalt fiber and aerogel products for pipelines at temperatures of 300 and 600 °C. We carried out a comparison of the key thermophysical characteristics of the claimed heat-insulating materials. We performed a thermal imaging survey of the furnace chimney, insulated with basalt fiber and aerogel, while controlling the temperature of the flue gases by establishing the required ratio of the flow rate of natural gas and oxidizer. The temperature gradient along the thickness of the thermal insulation was obtained using a numerical tool developed in ANSYS. The results show that aerogel surpasses basalt fiber in all key thermophysical characteristics. At the same time, the only barrier to widespread industrial production and use of aerogel in the high-temperature thermal insulation segment is its market cost, which is still several times higher than that of basalt fiber in terms of an equivalent performance.