Global Insulation 2011 review

Global Insulation Conference and Exhibition 2011
26-27 September, Toronto, Canada

Image gallery for the 6th Global Insulation Conference and Exhibition 2011

The 6th Global Insulation Conference and Exhibition took place in Toronto, Canada, on 26 and 27 September 2011. The event included 13 presentations over two days and welcomed delegates from 16 different countries. Participants included delegates from all branches of the global insulation industry, as well as many of the leading companies. After taking place in Berlin, Brussels, Barcelona, Prague and London, the event moved outside of Europe for the first time, to take place at the Hyatt Hotel in Toronto. Despite the depressed situation in the North American insulation industry, the conference achieved a critical mass and networking opportunities - over a total of 12 hours within the conference programme - were excellent.

James Garry opened the conference with a presentation on the accuracy of thermal measurement in the insulation industry. He looked at three types of thermocouples, including platinum diodes and silicon carbide thermocouples, but pointed out that most thermocouples used are relatively inaccurate. He pointed out that measuring the thickness of a sample is not always so easy - particularly at extremes of temperature. Density also varies from location to location due to differences in local gravity and with variation of atmospheric pressure. His conclusion was that the measurement of the insulation characteristics of a material are difficult to achieve, and that reporting uncertainty is as crucial as reporting data.

Phalguni Mukhopadhyaya of the National Research Council of Canada next spoke on the possibility of bio-based insulation. Canada has introduced a new building code for buildings, which will lead to an increased use of insulation, between 15-20% more than previously. Phalguni pointed out that bio-based insulation materials are not new, but suggested that bio-based materials need to have higher performance. Natural materials such as fungi and fruits have a bio-based foam structure and high insulation value. He outlined the possibility of using lignin with isocyanate and alcohol to create a polyurethane bio-based foam. The maximum amount of bio-based component that can be added without decreasing performance has not yet been determined. The long-term performance of the bio-based foams have also not yet been examined. Phalguni pointed out that since the research was at an early stage, it was a good time to join the research effort as a sponsor.

Doug Ostrander from Calucem Inc next spoke about the use of calcium aluminate cement (CAC) as a binder in the board and insulation industries. CAC has additional corrosion resistance and better high temperature performance compared to OPC. Setting times can be modified from a few hours to a few minutes and CAC has very rapid strength development. CAC can be used to briquette the raw materials for rock wool manufacture. The high heat of hydration means that briquettes will harden even in cool conditions, and since CAC is sulphur-free, there are no permitting issues associated with using CAC. There are opportunities to blend CAC with OPC to optimise both cost and performance.

At the start of a suite of presentations on reflective insulation technology, Bobby Byrd of Roy-o-Martin gave an introduction to the Reflective Insulation Manufacturers Association International (RIMA-I), a global grouping of producers of reflective and radiant barrier materials.

David Yarbrough of R&D Services next gave details about the use of reflective insulation around the world. Reflective insulation uses low emittance surfaces to reduce or nearly eliminate radiation across adjacent air spaces. The air spaces are enclosed to limit convection: spaces less than 10-15mm in the direction of heat flow exhibit little or no convection. The performance of reflective insulation is often evaluated in the context of systems or even of buildings as a whole, and a number of different methods have also been formulated to calculate the performance of assemblies or systems. Due to temperature stratification, reflective insulation can be particularly effective to prevent ingress of heat from outside a building, for example in hot climates, by lining roof spaces. Reflective insulation has its highest performance when it is positioned next to a low-emittance surface and when incorporating a small air gap.

Michael Joyce of R&D Services, Inc next spoke on the design and testing of duct insulation. He pointed out that the USA - like China and Australia - has a wide variety of climatic zones, which have different requirements from insulation systems. He pointed out some of the difficulties of measuring R-values in practice in a laboratory, including the fact that a system must be run for at least 12 hours for it to reach equilibrium, and that the results must be quoted for 75°F. In practice, performance at a variety of temperatures is measured and the results are then interpolated for the stipulated temperature. He pointed out that radiant barriers can vary in their insulation performance, depending on the way they are installed.

Mario Medina from the University of Kansas gave his conclusion at the start: radiant barriers reduce the heat transfer across building ceilings. He suggested that radiant barriers do not get the credit (in software packages modelling systems, for example, and in certain ‘green’ building standards) that their performance in the field warrants. Wood, masonry and other building materials commonly have relatively high emissivity. Radiant barriers may be installed in a variety of different ways in attic spaces, commonly depending on whether the insulation is installed during construction or as a retrofit. He reiterated the suggestion that radiant barriers can be of more utility in residential construction in the hot season, than in the cold or winter season. The efficacy of the radiant barrier installation will also vary depending on the climate. RBs reduce ceiling heat flows by 23-45%, in the summer, but to a lesser extent in the winter. In hot weather, by reducing radiation transfer to the roof space, the insulation may instead heat up the overlying roofing materials to a small degree.

David Yarbrough and Doug Kinninger of the Fi-Foil Company next spoke on different types of advanced concept reflective insulation. Vacuum panels eliminate gas phase conduction, nano-materials such as aerogels reduce gas phase conduction by reducing molecular collisions, but gas-filled foil-faced panels with low-k gas is Fi-Foil’s preferred solution. Argon, CO2 and krypton gases can be used to reduce conductance, although air also has low conductance. Interior low emission surfaces can be incorporated to increase insulation performance. Enclosed low-k gas with interior low-emissivity baffles to reduce radiative transport, as well as low emittance exterior surfaces have led to commercial products. Doug Kinninger spoke about these commercial products: the panels are expanded on site using an air pump (mechanical or manual), or can be used with a valve with more complicated gases. The corrugated panel leads to a structural strength, such that it will retain a cavity even if it is punctured. The interior of the panel is also covered in foil, so that it will retain its performance even if partially deflated. Gas filled panels can be retrofitted, for example behind radiators and in the plenum sections above a suspended ceiling. The panels are flexible enough such that they can be installed easily in constricted spaces.

Gala Dinner

The conference gala dinner (seen left) was at the revolving restaurant at the CN Tower, at a height of 351m. The venue of the 2012 Global Insulation Conference was announced during the dinner: delegates will meet again in Riga, the famously-beautiful capital of Latvia.

Second day

Roberto Massini of STM Technologies, Italy, started off the programme on the second day of the conference, by speaking about the use of wet electro filters for the pollution control of mineral fibre production. Carl Bender of Turbosonic gave some details of how the equipment works to scrub dust generated from the process, whether from fibres or from condensed or sublimated fume. A wet scrubber will only remove large particles but does absorb gaseous water-soluble contaminants. The scrubber generates water particles of the right size to maximise droplet impaction. Particles are absorbed into the water droplets and these can be more easily removed. A wet electrostatic precipitator can remove sub-micron particles and can meet the most stringent regulations. Particles are given a strong negative charge by an ionising corona: charged particles are attracted to the grounded walls of the collecting tubes and the falling water film on the tubes removes the collected particles to a drain. Collecting tubes are arranged in a honeycomb pattern to maximise efficiency. Carl mentioned a case study at El Volcan in Chile, which installed a wet electrostatic precipitator on a fibre production line, which reduced particulate emissions to consistently below 10mg/Nm3.

Jim Young of ITW Insulation Systems next spoke about the causes and prevention of corrosion on the interior surface of metal insulation jacketing. Metal jacketing is the outer containment of insulation around a hot or cold pipe, and usually includes a vapour barrier which ought to prevent problems but which can trap vapour once it has entered the system. The key problem is the entry of water into the insulation system: galvanic (or dissimilar metal) corrosion is caused by the contact of two metals, often in the presence of an electrolyte or salt; crevice or pitting corrosion occurs when a single type of metal is in contact with a stagnant liquid, especially when chlorides are present. Jim suggested that the use of a polysurlyn moisture barrier (PSMB) on the interior of the metal jacketing can almost completely eliminate corrosion. He underlined the fact that moisture barriers must be installed correctly and carefully to avoid the presence of pinholes that can lead to moisture ingress and subsequent corrosion. Once interior jacket corrosion becomes a problem, it is very expensive to fix: use of PSMB is a cheap insurance policy.

François Kirouac of Premier Tech next spoke about packaging technologies for the insulation industry. The company originally started out as a peat moss producer, but when its equipment supplier declined to improve his offering, the owner’s son went to engineering school and subsequently started to build better machinery for the company. Eventually the company became an equipment manufacture, rather than a peat moss producer! The company now produces a range of machines for packaging of insulation, a range that has expanded due to the company’s recent takeover of Forberg.

The penultimate presentation was given by Janko Sink of Izoteh, from Slovenia. The company is located in Ljubljana, and can design, fabricate, and erect complete stone wool production lines, using CAD/CAM and CFD, particularly in the area of the curing oven and the spinning heads to optimise efficiency. Janko spoke about the construction of two stone wool factories in Russia. The Asbest plant has a capacity of 6t/hour of final product, while the Ufa plant, on the west side of the Ural mountains, has a capacity of 10t/hour of final product using a line width of 2.4m. Around 85% of the machinery for the factories was made in Slovenia, followed by a major logistical effort to transport the equipment 5000km to the plant site. The machinery has to be robust, due to the low temperatures at the plant sites, down to -40°C. The construction of the factories was delayed by the recent global financial crisis, but the factories are both now completed, commissioned and operating well. Both plants are equipped with modern laboratory equipment for quality control.

The exhibition area at the Global Insulation Conference was busy throughout the event (see right).

Walter Reiter of the EPS Molders Association gave the final presentation, an overview of trends in the world of EPS in the US. He pointed out that housing uses around 40% of energy in the US and that this proportion is actually increasing, partly because energy use by industry is decreasing as a proportion of the whole. He pointed out that all insulation manufacturers are going to have to become involved in product stewardship, ‘from cradle to grave.’ Walter also suggested that life cycle analysis for all insulation, EPS included, will become more important. Consumers, he suggested, are becoming better educated, or more cynical, about ‘green’ claims and that the industry is likely to become more aligned towards ‘sustainability’ instead. He pointed out that similar amounts of insulation are required for the same effect: different types of insulation have similar effectiveness but each is suited to different niches. ‘Watch the money’ was his suggestion, as energy becomes more precious, insulation demand will increase.

Following the final presentation, an awards luncheon was held at the Hyatt Hotel. Termica San Luis of Argentina was awarded the Global Insulation ‘plant of the year’ award, while Roxul Inc. of Canada was awarded the ‘insulation company of the year’ award for not only a robust performance in tough times, but also for its community outreach efforts. The Global Insulation ‘product of the year’ was awarded to Fi-Foil’s ‘Attic Armor’ gas-filled panel. Global Insulation’s ‘equipment company of the year’ was Izoteh, while the Global  Insulation ‘personality of the year’ was awarded to Mary Edmondson of RIMA-I.The best presentation awards, as voted for by the delegates, were also presented at the lunch. In third place was James Garry of Red Core Consulting. In second place was Walter Reiter of the EPS Molders Association. However, the award for best presentation went to Jim Young (seen left) for his paper on corrosion of metal jacketing.

Delegates ranked the event highly for its technical content and for its networking opportunities. Without exception, all delegates fervently hope for an upturn in insulation markets worldwide.

We all hope that such a turnround in markets, with robust growth and enhanced profitability, will be in evidence by the time of the next Global Insulation Conference, in Riga in Latvia, on 17-18 September 2012.