Aerogel Products Market to Nearly Triple in Value by 2020

Tuesday 8 March 2016, Amsterdam

Since the key player began tracking the aerogel market in 2004, the market has expanded by over a factor of 10 due to better product pricing, improved material properties, and new market opportunities. The key player reveals in its new report that a key market driver is the increased demand of aerogels for industrial thermal insulation.

Aerogels are ultra-light, low density, nanoporous materials that can be made from inorganic, organic, or hybrid materials. In this study, the term aerogels indicates all materials that exhibit porosity equal to or greater than 50% by volume regardless of their drying process.

The global market should reach $612.4 million in 2020 from $213.6 million in 2015, reflecting a five-year compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 23.4%. The thermal and acoustic insulation sector, with a projected five-year (2015-2020) CAGR of 23.1%, accounted for 83.5% of all revenues in 2015. The life science and personal care sector accounted for 9.4% of the total market in 2015. Sales within this segment are associated primarily with the utilization of aerogels in cosmetic and pharmaceutical products. All of the remaining sectors represented a smaller combined market share of 7.1%.

A number of factors are driving demand for aerogel products. Key drivers include a greater penetration of aerogels into the construction and transportation sectors, overall better economic conditions worldwide, increased applications of aerogels in the energy, chemical and environmental sectors, and availability of products manufactured with low-cost materials and processes. A greater availability of environmentally friendly aerogel products and increased industry R&D activities, along with greater market penetration of aerogel products in developing countries are growing demand, as well.

The key driver of the overall market is the growing demand for industrial thermal insulation. The thermal and acoustic insulation market, currently valued at $39.3 billion, is projected to reach $53.9 billion by 2020, growing at a 6.5% CAGR.  Construction and industrial thermal insulation represents the most traditional applications of aerogels. In addition to their sound-insulating properties, aerogels can be produced with hydrophobic characteristics that make them suitable for building external insulation and waterproofing,

“The thermal insulating and light transmission properties of aerogels make them well suited to meet unique architectural and commercial requirements,” says analyst Margareth Gagliardi. “In the past three years, sales of aerogels for thermal insulation were lower than previously forecast, mostly due to subdued growth of the worldwide construction sector. But as general global economic conditions continue to improve, the construction market is forecast to grow at a significantly faster pace.“