115 Fibre-Aerogel-Mats for façade Insulation: How to Guide SSbD Development by Screenings?

• Published in: Annals of work exposures and health 2023-05, Vol.67 (Supplement_1), p.i65-i65
• Main Authors: Wohlleben, Wendel, Battista, Veronica Di, Guenter, Eva, Ribalta, Carla, Jensen, Keld, Saccardo, Angela, Meldrum, Kirsty, Clift, Martin, Baun, Anders, Demokritou, Philip
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• ISSN: 2398-7308; 2398-7316
• DOI: 10.1093/annweh/wxac087.158

The HARMLESS project focusses upon assessment approaches to support Safe-and-Sustainable-by-Design (SSbD) development of advanced materials (AdMa). Case studies comprise several industry sectors. Specifically for the construction sector we study façade insulation by fibre-aerogel-mats. Beyond the relatively simpler mono-component organic aerogels presented earlier (Keller et al. 2021), here we deal with multi-component materials: Glass fibers provide structural integrity for the silica-based aerogel that provides the thermal insulation performance, though is coated by organosilane as a hydrophobizing agent to prevent moisture uptake. Optionally, an additional inorganic coating can be applied to enhance mechanical stability. Here we explored this wide SSbD design space by four industrially relevant SSbD-versions of fibre-aerogel-mats; these were ranked and compared against each other as well as conventional insulation material (i.e. stone wool). We assessed the release by performing several typical occupational operations under clean-air conditions within a laboratory setting. Up to 106/ccm particles are released, with respirable aerodynamic diameters. We collected the dust and assessed the structure and behavior with respect to its biological reactivity and biodissolution, focusing on the screening and ranking of inhalation hazards. The data on exposure and hazard was complemented by data on functionality in the intended use, where all SSbD versions performed significantly better than the conventional alternative. The new data refines the risk screening and categorisation schemes for advanced materials, including Early4AdMa (RIVM 2022), AdmGRID (Kennedy et al. 2019), InnoMat.Life (Wohlleben et al. 2022) and an environmental risk screening (Arvidsson et al. 2022).