News Release Details

Aerowolle® is the first building insulation of its kind using Cabot’s aerogel

(Boston, MA) September 7, 2010 – Cabot Corporation’s Aerogel Business today announced that a joint development project with Rockwool International A/S, the global leader in stone wool products, has resulted the introduction of the first commercialized product containing aerogel in a rigid, mineral wool-based board. The Rockwool Group joins the ranks of other Cabot Aerogel commercial partners in markets including architectural daylighting and roofing, coatings, personal care, and pipeline systems.

Cabot and Rockwool have been working together for the past two years to develop this material based on aerogel combined with mineral wool. Working together, the companies have taken advantage of the properties of granular aerogel to create an innovative product form for the building insulation market.

The newly introduced Rockwool Aerowolle® / Aerowool® material is a high performance composite of aerogel and mineral wool. With its superior thermal performance and thinner profile, the material is a breakthrough in building insulation applications where space is at a premium, providing equivalent performance to traditional materials at a reduced thickness.

“We are pleased to be part of this new offering from the Rockwool Group” said Fred von Gottberg, Vice President and General Manager of Cabot’s New Business Segment. “Rockwool is a very innovative organization, as evidenced by the rigorous work to develop this product and the speed with which they have made it available to customers. We believe that the superior insulating properties of Cabot aerogel will bring significant benefits to this new product offering.”

“The Rockwool Group is pleased to be working with Cabot and excited about the results of the past two years of research,” said Klaus Franz, Rockwool Central Division Managing Director. “The revolutionary technologies we have created and employed will enable performance never before seen in mineral wool products.”

What is aerogel?
Sometimes called “frozen smoke”, aerogel is the lightest and best insulating solid in the world. Cabot’s aerogel is produced as hydrophobic (water repellant) particles that lend themselves to incorporation in a wide variety of composite forms. Each particle consists largely of air (>90%) contained in a nanostructure with pore sizes less than the mean free path of air molecules, which severely inhibits heat transfer through the material. These particles can be contained in various ways to facilitate incorporation into a wide range of systems including pipe-in-pipe systems, LNG & cryogenic gas transportation and storage systems, insulative coatings, daylighting panels, sporting equipment, clothing, and others. Cabot produces aerogel in a state-of-the-art manufacturing facility located near Frankfurt, Germany where it began commercial production in 2003. For more information, visit: www.cabot-corp.com/aerogel

About Cabot Corporation
Cabot’s Aerogel Business is a business of Cabot Corporation, a global performance materials company headquartered in Boston, Massachusetts, USA. Cabot's major products include carbon black, fumed silica, inkjet colorants, capacitor materials, aerogel, and cesium formate drilling fluids. The website address is: www.cabot-corp.com.

About Rockwool International A/S
The Rockwool Group is the world's leading producer of stone wool - a material that improves the quality of life for millions of people and helps to alleviate environmental problems, such as the greenhouse effect, smog and acid rain. Rockwool insulation is one of few products that can save more than 100 times the energy used for its manufacture. It conserves scarce energy resources and reduces air pollution and CO2 emissions by minimizing the combustion of fuel. To learn more, visit www.rockwool.com.

Contact: Hilary Thorne Banda
Marketing Communications Manager
Cabot Aerogel
157 Concord Road
Billerica, MA 01821
Phone: 978.670.6113
Fax: 978.670.7045
Email: hilary_banda@cabot-corp.com