Aerogel from Sustainably Grown Bacterial Cellulose Pellicles as a Thermally Insulative Film for Building Envelopes

ACS Appl Mater Interfaces. 2020 Jul 29;12(30):34115-34121. doi: 10.1021/acsami.0c08879. Epub 2020 Jul 16.

Abstract

Improving building energy performance requires the development of new highly insulative materials. An affordable retrofitting solution comprising a thin film could improve the resistance to heat flow in both residential and commercial buildings and reduce overall energy consumption. Here, we propose cellulose aerogel films formed from pellicles produced by the bacteria Gluconacetobacter hansenii as insulation materials. We studied the impact of the density and nanostructure on the aerogels' thermal properties. A thermal conductivity as low as 13 mW/(K·m) was measured for native pellicle-based aerogels that were dried as-is with minimal post-treatment. The use of waste from the beer brewing industry as a solution to grow the pellicle maintained the cellulose yield obtained with standard Hestrin-Schramm media, making our product more affordable and sustainable. In the future, our work can be extended through further diversification of food wastes as the substrate sources, facilitating higher potential production and larger applications.

Keywords: bacterial cellulose; building envelope; cellulose aerogel; insulation; sustainable; thermal conductivity.

MeSH terms

  • Acetobacteraceae / metabolism*
  • Carbon Dioxide / chemistry
  • Cellulose / chemistry*
  • Gels / chemistry*
  • Nanostructures / chemistry
  • Thermal Conductivity

Substances

  • Gels
  • Carbon Dioxide
  • Cellulose

Supplementary concepts

  • Komagataeibacter hansenii