A novel aerogel from thermal power plant waste for thermal and acoustic insulation applications

[Display omitted] •Coal fly ash from thermal power plant is converted into advanced aerogel material.•Developed aerogels possess porosity up to 90% and compressive strength of 150 kPa.•Competitive heat insulation capability to others commercial heat insulators.•Competitive acoustic insulation capability to others commercial acoustic insulators. Massive quantities of fly ash are produced worldwide from thermal power plants, posing a serious environmental threat due to their storage and disposal problems. In this study, for the first time, fly ash is converted into an advanced and novel aerogel through a green and eco-friendly process. The developed aerogel has a low density of 0.10–0.19 g cm−3, a high porosity of up to 90%, a low thermal conductivity of 0.042–0.050 W/mK, and a good sound absorption coefficient (noise reduction coefficient [NRC] value of 0.20–0.30). It also shows a high compressive Young’s modulus of up to 150 kPa. Therefore, the newly developed fly ash aerogel is a potential material for thermal and acoustic insulation applications, along with lightweight composites in automotive and aerospace applications.