LAUSR

Over 60 million tons of aluminium are produced annually, requiring sustainable and eco-friendly recycling methods of aluminium waste. In this work, aluminium metal waste is utilized in the fabrication of aluminium hydroxide aerogels using a cost-effective and environmental-friendly process. The developed aerogels with varying contents of aluminium and poly(vinyl alcohol) as a binder exhibit a low density (0.060–0.108 g/cm3), a high porosity (92.3–95.5%) and a low electrical conductivity ([1.8–5.2] × 10–8 S/m). The results indicated that aluminium hydroxide aerogels have an ultra-low thermal conductivity of 0.028–0.032 W/m K and are able to withstand high temperature of 800 °C with less than 50% decomposition. It is suggested that the synthesized aerogels can be a promising candidate for high-value engineering applications such as thermal insulation of pipes and buildings to expand the usage of recycled aluminium.