Case study of a green nanoporous material from synthesis to commercialisation: Quartzene®

Synthetic amorphous silicas with high porosity (94–97%) are introduced and various pathways for their synthesis are presented. The materials have structures with high surface area (300–750 m2/g) and are commercialised under the name of Quartzene®. Low cost silica sources and ambient pressure drying enable production in large scale with approximately 70% cost reduction as compared to conventional method silica aerogels. The structure is analysed, properties are reported as low density (0.04–0.15 g/ml), low thermal conductivity (24–26 mW/m·K), etc. Formaldehyde gas adsorption tests reveal that the uptake level of samples made by Quartzene® is significantly increased as compared to commercially available adsorbents. Thermal conductivity at elevated temperatures for mixtures of Quartzene® and stone wool shows a 23% reduction at 650 °C as compared to pure stone wool. Scaling up process for this green material meeting environmental sustainability demands in industrial manufacturing is discussed and challenges/current developments are presented.