Introduction:

Data shows that oil and gas projects account for the largest proportion of downstream applications of aerogels in China, accounting for 56%; Secondly, industrial insulation accounts for 18%, and construction manufacturing accounts for 9% Oil and gas and industry may be the main battlefield for the application of aerogel. How can aerogel be used in the industrial sector?

1、 Why do industrial kilns and pipelines need insulation?

There are many scenarios in the industrial field that require thermal insulation, including high and low temperature pipelines for conveying various media, steam pipelines, and industrial kilns for production.

The insulation renovation work directly affects the operational status of industrial pipelines, kilns, and other equipment, as well as the effectiveness of energy conservation and consumption reduction. Taking a glass melting furnace as an example, the heat dissipation area of the glass melting furnace is large, the external surface temperature is high, and the heat dissipation accounts for about 20% to 30% of the total heat. Especially in kilns such as those using heavy oil as fuel, the heat dissipation loss is more. However, after the transformation of the kiln body with insulation materials, fuel can be saved by 15% to 20%, and the flame temperature can be increased by 20 ℃ to 30 ℃.

Similarly, industrial pipelines carry various temperatures and media, and excellent insulation work can effectively reduce heat loss, achieve the effect of reducing energy consumption and improving operational efficiency.

There are many traditional pipeline insulation materials in the market, but industrial insulation covers many aspects, such as high temperature resistance, waterproof and moisture-proof, non collapse, vibration resistance, etc. In various environments and working conditions, it is necessary to meet various performance requirements while ensuring insulation effectiveness, avoiding the drawbacks of incomplete performance and high replacement and maintenance costs of traditional insulation materials.

With the demand for excellence, a new type of thermal insulation material - aerogel has become a new choice and new trend; There are not only academic papers or research supporting the benefits of aerogel compared with traditional thermal insulation materials, but also the thermal insulation materials for replacing pipelines with aerogel at the head of Sinopec, PetroChina and other companies to prove the value of new materials.

2、 The wind of aerogel has already blown to the downstream industry

In 2018, China's first national standard for aerogel materials, Nanoporous Aerogel gel Composite Thermal Insulation Products, was officially implemented, which is applicable to nanoporous silica based aerogel composite thermal insulation products used in industrial and construction fields. Other types can also be used for reference.

This is the first national standard for gel, and then the industry standards for gel have been launched and projects have been established. The above is driven by national policies and the factors of gel's penetration into the middle and lower reaches; At the same time, it also shows that the demand for the application of aerogel in industries, buildings and other fields is growing, which reversely promotes the technical guarantee of the design, construction and acceptance of standards and specifications.

As mentioned above, oil, gas and industry are the fields where aerogels are widely used. In the article "Is the scale of aerogel that Sinopec has also entered the petrochemical pipeline market expected to exceed 10 billion?", we introduced the application and effect of aerogel in the petrochemical field, and aerogel gel also plays a variety of values in thermal insulation in the industrial field.

Compared with traditional thermal insulation materials, aerogel has one of the most significant advantages, that is, low thermal conductivity. This will have more excellent thermal insulation performance for aerogel composite products.

For example, aerogel coating can be directly applied to the surface of industrial storage tanks to reduce heat loss or absorption, keep the stored energy at a constant temperature, and save energy to the greatest extent.

For some high-temperature working pipelines in the industrial field, the use of aerogel felt insulation can reduce heat loss and also effectively prevent scalding accidents.

The thickness of the insulation layer is also a key factor affecting the insulation effect. Generally speaking, the thicker the insulation layer, the less heat transfer and loss. However, when determining the thickness of the insulation layer, it is also necessary to consider the structure of the storage tank/pipeline and the investment cost.

Another advantage that traditional materials cannot match is the light weight of gel felt. In order to achieve the same thermal insulation effect, the thickness of gel felt is only a fraction of that of traditional materials. Moreover, the thermal insulation effect of aerogel felt is 2-5 times that of traditional thermal insulation materials, and the service life of theoretical high-temperature pipeline measured according to Arrhenius experiment is close to 20 years.