Insulation industry news from Global Insulation
US: Hamed Saber has won the Reflective Insulation Manufacturers Association (RIMA) International’s Alexander Schwartz Award. The awarded recognises notable reflective products industry representatives who have advanced the industry through their contributions. Saber has authored over 150 papers, with sponsors including the US Department of Energy, American Society of Heating, Refrigerating and Air-Conditioning Engineers (ASHRAE) and the Oak Ridge National Laboratory. RIMA International said that Saber’s work has been instrumental in progressing the industry from one-dimensional to three-dimensional analysis within the industry, which it called the ‘third spike’ in the history of reflective insulation technology.
The association said “RIMA International is pleased to recognise Dr Hamed Saber for all he has contributed on behalf of this organisation and the industry it represents throughout his professional career. The industry has benefited greatly from his efforts, and it couldn’t go to a more deserving person.”
Study quantifies UK housing stock’s insulation shortfall
12 April 2024UK: Only 18% of UK housing stock conforms with standards set in 2002, according to a study by utilities provider EDF and property data company Sprift. This represents a rise from 7.5% in the previous study conducted in May 2022. 41% of homes fail to meet standards set later than 1976, down from 60% in May 2022. The average ‘insulation age’ of UK housing is 41 years old, 11% younger than the age of 46 years old recorded in the previous study.
Knauf Insulation lobbies Council of the European Union to decarbonise building stock
29 September 2023Spain: Knauf Insulation has called on Spain, as the current president of the Council of the European Union, to further decarbonise building stock in the region.
Oscar Del Rio, the general manager of Knauf Insulation Iberia, said “The outcome of domestic politics may still be uncertain at the moment, but on the international stage, Spain holds the presidency of the Council of the European Union until the end of December 2023 and its focus must be crystal clear. Europe needs to seize the opportunity of the recast of the Energy Performance of Buildings Directive (EPBD) to ensure an approach that will decarbonise its building stock by increasing renovation rates and committing to quality retrofit standards that deliver real performance.”
The insulation producer cited research by the Building Performance Institute (BPIE), which it supported, that found that insulating all Europe’s residential buildings would cut energy demand for space heating by 44%, compared to 2020, making a ‘significant’ contribution to energy security and the EU’s 2050 climate goals. The company has also urged policy makers to introduce ‘one-stop shops’ for renovation to enable building owners to make retrofitting easier and to use digital tools to make it easier for people to view potential performance savings.
The company used Spain as an example of a country that needs a more ambitious renovation strategy. It noted that, according to Spain’s Energy Renovation of the Building Sector strategy, 9.7 million homes or 50% of residential buildings were built before 1980 and an additional one million are described as in a poor or dilapidated condition. In addition, 81% of existing buildings are in the E, F or G emissions categories and 84.5% are in these categories for energy consumption. It quoted research by Renovate Europe that found that the renovation rate of buildings in Spain was eight to 10 times lower than the average for neighbouring countries.
Germany: Chemicals producer BASF has partnered with RAMPF Eco Solutions, Poland-based Remondis Electrorecycling and engineering company KraussMaffei to develop depolymerisation techniques to produce polyol from waste polyurethane (PU) fridge insulation, as an alternative to natural hydrocarbons. The recovered polyol could then be used as a raw material in PU insulation production.
BASF said "This innovative process is particularly challenging because it has to be very robust in order to reliably convert post-consumer waste with high levels of foreign substances into a high-quality recycled polyol.”
Waste fridge insulation's only current use is as an alternative fuel by the energy sector.
India: Germany-based chemicals producer BASF has broken ground on its construction of a polyurethane (PU) application development laboratory in Mumbai, Maharashtra. From its inauguration in 2024, the laboratory will offer customer support services including customised formulations, line trials and training sessions PU industry partners, including insulation producers. In this, it will support the work of BASF’s existing Creation Center at its Mumbai Innovation Campus.
BASF’s senior vice president, performance materials Asia Pacific, Andy Postlethwaite said “As a part of the global innovation network, the lab will enable global and regional BASF teams to work closely with local customers in testing and formulation optimisation. BASF has been providing technical services to customers, enabling the co-creation of innovative product solutions with its high-performance materials. With our strength in innovation and comprehensive range of high-quality solutions, we help our customers meet increasingly stringent regulatory standards and optimise product properties for their specific needs at an early stage.”
UK insulation demand fell by 16% to Euro1.62bn in 2020
08 April 2021UK: AMA Research has recorded a 16% year-on-year decline in UK insulation demand to Euro1.62bn in 2020 from Euro1.93bn in 2019. The researcher forecast a 3% year-on-year decline in 2021 to Euro1.57m. It said the demand would not recover 2019 levels before 2025. In the three years after 2021, the predicted annual growth rate is 4 - 6%.
Researchers turn CO2 into polyurethane precursor
18 October 2019China/Japan: Researchers from Kyoto University, the University of Tokyo in Japan and Jiangsu Normal University in China have developed a new material that can selectively capture carbon dioxide (CO2) molecules and convert them into ‘useful’ organic materials, including a precursor for polyurethane. The research project has been described in the journal Nature Communications.
The material is a porous coordination polymer (PCP, also known as a metal-organic framework), a framework consisting of zinc metal ions. The researchers tested their material using X-ray structural analysis and found that it can selectively capture only CO2 molecules with ten times more efficiency than other PCPs. The material has an organic component with a propeller-like molecular structure, and as CO2 molecules approach the structure, they rotate and rearrange to permit CO2 trapping, resulting in slight changes to the molecular channels within the PCP. This allows it to act as molecular sieve that can recognise molecules by size and shape. The PCP is also recyclable; the efficiency of the catalyst did not decrease even after 10 reaction cycles.
After capturing the carbon, the converted material can be used to make polyurethane, a material with a wide variety of applications including insulation materials.
China: A study by researchers from Australia's Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation and Britain's University of Bristol says that the provinces of Shandong and Hebei are the source of a rise in trichlorofluoromethane (CFC-11) emissions. It attributed about 40% to 60%of in the rise in CFC-11 since 2013 to this region, according to Reuters. After studying atmospheric data from South Korea and Japan they estimated that CFC-11 emissions from eastern China during the 2014 - 2017 period were around 7000t/hr higher than 2008 - 2012.
Previously in mid-2018 an investigation by the Environmental Investigation Agency (EIA) speculated that the widespread use of CFC-11 by Chinese rigid polyurethane (PU) foam producers might be the source of the reported rise of emissions.
China launched an inspection campaign into 3000 foam manufacturers in 2018 and promised to punish any violations of the Montreal Protocol treaty. The Ministry of Ecology and Environment said in March 2019 that it had shut down two manufacturing areas that produced CFC-11. It added that its investigation into PU foam makers had not found any large-scale usage so far but that producers may be getting better at hiding their operations. It also noted that there was ‘uncertainty’ in published research and called for better detection mechanisms.
Washington State University researchers working on cellulose-based replacement for extruded polystyrene foam
15 May 2019US: Researchers at Washington State University (WSU) have developed an alternative to extruded polystyrene foam that uses nanocrystals of cellulose instead of petroleum based products. The team, led by Amir Ameli, assistant professor in the School of Mechanical and Materials Engineering, and Xiao Zhang, associate professor in the Gene and Linda School of Chemical Engineering and Bioengineering, have also developed a manufacturing process to make the foam using water as a solvent.
The project is working on developing an environmentally friendly replacement for extruded polystyrene foam. The WSU team created a material that is made of about 75% cellulose nanocrystals from wood pulp. They added polyvinyl alcohol, another polymer that bonds with the nanocellulose crystals and makes the resultant foams more elastic.
“We have used an easy method to make high-performance, composite foams based on nanocrystalline cellulose with an excellent combination of thermal insulation capability and mechanical properties,” said Ameli.
The researchers are now developing formulations for stronger and more durable materials for practical applications. They are interested in incorporating low‑cost feedstocks to make a commercially viable product and considering how to move from laboratory to a real-world manufacturing scale.
UK and French universities investigating using waste materials as alternative insulation materials
08 March 2019UK/France: A project between the University of Bath, University of Brighton, UniLaSalle in Rouen and five other academic and non-academic partners, and funded under the Interreg VA France (Channel) England programme, is investigating the performance of a range of waste materials and bio-based co-products as alternative building insulation materials. Three different materials are being evaluated: wheat straw bales, rapeseed stalks (processed into bio-composite) and recycled duvets.
A research team at the University of Bath is testing and comparing the thermal performance of each of the insulation materials by constructing three identical prototype wall panels, each containing one of the materials. Their performances will be compared and contrasted with each other as well as against industry standard insulation used currently in most buildings. The panels are 150mm thick by 1.1m2 and fitted with 9mm plywood either side, similar to how insulation is commonly installed within buildings. Each panel contains a number of probes to measure relative humidity, interior and exterior temperature, and heat flux. The panels will undergo six weeks of consecutive testing in an environmental chamber at the University’s Building Research Park. There will be two tests – a steady state and a non-steady state temperature test.
“This is the first time these materials will have been tested in such a robust scientific way, allowing us to accurately assess their thermal performance against each other as well as against industry standard insulation,” said Shawn Platt, Research Associate in the University of Bath’s Department of Architecture & Civil Engineering.