In recent years, aerogels, as a new type of thermal insulation material, have been widely concerned because of their excellent thermal insulation, light weight and long service life. Among them, it has been widely used in the field of petrochemical industry.

Aerogel materials in the field of petrochemical industry are mainly used in the external insulation of energy infrastructure, including distillation towers, reaction pipelines, storage tanks, pumps, valves, natural gas and liquefied gas pipelines, deep sea pipelines, power plant equipment and other thermal insulation, such as:
Aerogel materials are used for heat preservation and insulation of light oil tanks such as gasoline and diesel in petrochemical production enterprises, and for heat insulation and insulation of various light hydrocarbon spherical tanks such as liquefied gas, propylene and propane that need to be cooled by spraying in summer, which can effectively reduce the heat exchange inside and outside the storage tank and effectively block the radiation of sunlight and the conduction of heat radiation in the air. The 2mm aerogel insulation coating system can reduce the internal temperature of the storage tank by more than 10 ° C, and reduce the spray frequency in the summer high temperature, so as to avoid the premature failure of the corrosion protection of the tank caused by continuous spray.

The aerogels are composed of a network of nanoporous pores filled with air or inert gases. Compared with traditional thermal insulation materials, the thermal insulation performance of aerogel is better, which is 2 to 8 times that of traditional materials, and the thickness is 1/3 to 1/5 of traditional thermal insulation materials, so the amount of aerogel is less under the same thermal insulation effect. In addition, the service life of the aerogel material is about 20 years, while the service life of the traditional insulation material is about 5 years, so the use of the whole life cycle is lower.
Although aerogel materials have many advantages in the field of thermal insulation in the petrochemical industry, there are also shortcomings. The preparation process of aerogel is relatively complex and requires special preparation methods and equipment, so the manufacturing cost is high. In addition, the aerogel material is relatively brittle and vulnerable to external damage, which affects its application in some high-strength environments.
As a new kind of thermal insulation material, aerogels have a wide application prospect in the field of thermal insulation in petrochemical industry. Although there are some shortcomings, with the continuous progress of technology and in-depth research, the application of aerogel in petrochemical industry will continue to expand.