Airium™

Mineral foam technology for low-cost insulation of floor, wall and roof systems

01.

Identification

Airium aims at making the insulation of building envelopes affordable and accessible in developing countries, easy to use for applicators and building professionals, as well as sustainable, long lasting and recyclable. Among others, it can be used for the insulation of flat roofs to build and insulate at the same time. Airium replaces the Polystyrene based insulation most commonly used on roofs as well as the standard concrete slope built to evacuate water. In doing so, this system solution removes several layers of the traditional construction systems and, combined with the fact that it is easy to work with and to shape when freshly poured, it speeds up the roof system application time for both new buildings and renovation. Foamed onsite out of purely local ingredients, Airium Thermoroof has less embodied carbon than the alternative system, encourages a bigger chunk of the building stock to go for insulation thanks to its lower cost and is entirely recyclable when end of life comes.

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Label Date March 17, 2021

By Holcim

From Switzerland

Maturity stage Small scale commercialization

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02.

Implementation Stories

Airium™ by Holcim
Implemented by Department of public equipment of Oran in Belgaid (Algeria) in 2019

The department of public equipment of Oran’s district, used the Solution in 2021 as part of a local high school renovation project. 397 m2 of roofs were insulated and sloped to improve the thermal comfort of students as well as to limit the energy spent over time. For this implementation, a 15.5 cm average of Airium was installed on the roof. In case of no heating the installation of Airium on the high school’s roof will enable a gain up to 2 °C of comfort during winter.

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Result

Generated savings of 51.2 kwh per m2 per annum in heating (savings of 48%) = 12.8 kg co2 eq

03.

The environmental benefits

•Removes the need of 2 layers of the construction system (slope and geotextile), increases the overall application speed per m2 by 2
•Provides a more reliable insulation solution - No risk of thermal bridges: the insulation is continuous
•A roof made with Airium is 4 times lighter than a traditional roof system with Polystyrene and screed to slope - this is a considerable advantage for renovation projects or for projects adding floors on existing building
•Reduces heating and cooling energy needs for individual housing = avoided CO2 emissions of 18 kgCO2eq per m² per year
•Unlike Polystyrene, Airium is fully recyclable and can be ground with demolition waste just like concrete
•Airium is foamed on site, reducing the need for importing, transporting, storing, cutting and wasting bulky piles of insulation (up to 10% of Polystyrene waste on site)

04.

The Financial benefits

•19% more affordable in total installed cost per m² compared to the traditional polystyrene and concrete slope flat roof alternative
•Reduces by ~61% heating and 45% cooling energy needs for individual housing = savings of 195 € per year in heating and cooling costs for a household in a 107 m² per year
•Compared to a non insulated slope (without insulation), the payback for Airium insulation is less than a year (160 € extra cost compared to 195 € in yearly energy savings)