Maastricht, Netherlands — BASF’s Slentite polyurethane aerogel insulation panels are now being used in pilot projects.
UTECH Europe: Slentite PU aerogel moves in to pilot projects
Fricke: moving into pilot projects
According to Marc Fricke, project manager for high performance insulation materials for BASF Polyurethanes, they anticipate the panels will go into full production in three to four years.
The pilot plant is at the company’s facility in Lemforde, Germany. A manufacturing plant is now being planned.
‘There has been a large amount of interest,’ Fricke said. He added that it is too early to say how large production volumes are likely to be, but he described the potential as ‘huge’.
The panels are 25–50% slimmer than conventional products. This makes them particularly suitable for internal insulation in the renovation of old buildings. The open-pored structure gives the panels good moisture regulation.
‘It is a very specialist product for space constrained applications, a problem-solver – but we want to expand it,’ Fricke said.
BASF started pre-marketing Slentite in 2016 and in the same year it won an award from the FSK, Germany's foamed plastics association.
