Global Insulation Conference & Exhibition 2014
30 - 31 October 2014, Copenhagen, Denmark

Image gallery for the 9th Global Insulation Conference and Exhibition 2014

The 9th Global Insulation Conference, Exhibition and Awards has taken place in Copenhagen, attracting over 180 delegates from 29 countries, as well as 24 exhibitors. The 10th anniversary event will take place in Istanbul in September 2015. Here we give highlights of the event.

The event started on the night before the conference proper, with its traditional welcome party in the exhibition area. In total, 24 exhibitors showed their equipment and services for the global insulation industry, and this was the largest gathering of exhibitors so far at the event.

Conference first day

The first day of the event welcomed Connie Enghus of Rockwool, the second largest producer of insulation materials in the world, who spoke first. Western Europe makes up 59% of the company's sales, with Russia and Eastern Europe making up 24%. Insulation makes up 82% of sales, with systems making up the rest. Global demand for energy-efficient buildings continues to grow. Connie pointed out that by 2018/19, all new public buildings in the EU must have net-zero energy levels, while by 2020/21 all new buildings - including domestic dwelling - must have that level of energy consumption. At the moment, buildings are the biggest energy consumer in the EU, with 40% of the share, while industry uses 25% of the energy and transport uses 32%. Buildings provide the second largest untapped and cost effective potential target for energy savings after the energy sector itself. "Tightness of the building envelope is vital and solutions are required for penetrations and interfaces in order to be able to meet 2020 goals." The REDAir Flex system has been designed to be energy efficient, eliminating thermal bridges, but also to be easy for installers and to have zero maintenance. The system eliminates traditional materials like metal and wood and hence removes the possibility of rust and mould. Connie suggested that the whole system is recyclable and has zero fire risk. She concluded, "Insulation alone is not enough, multiple properties of the material are required."

Grazyna Mitchener of PolyChemTech next spoke on designer insulation materials. Grazyna stated that designer materials will have great combinations of properties by following a few simple rules: learn from nature and learn from other people's mistakes and experience: once you have evolved as much as you can, you must start to revolt and to think differently. She mentioned Danish physicist Martin Knudsen (1871 - 1949, taught and conducted research at the Technical University of Denmark 1km away from the conference venue), who pointed out that thermal conductivity reduces with mean free path of the gas molecules, partly due to the reduction of convection. Cell sizes of less than 1µm (and optimally less than 68nm) can effectively use the Knudsen effect to reduce gas-phase thermal conductivity to below 20mW/mK. Grazyna continued on to say that super-sophisticated properties of fibres have been developed, including nano-pitted, nano-protrusions and porous fibres which have important implications for insulation performance. She pointed out that organic foams can have very good insulation properties. Different forms of carbon have radically different insulation properties, from carbon black, buckminsterfullerenes, graphite or graphenes. In the same way, polyethylene can take many forms with varying thermal conductivity, notably with anisotropy along different phonon layers. She suggested that new insulating materials might be developed that could be switched on and off, and also that they could be configured like heat pumps that could be made to transfer heat from one place to another. The management of the phonon mechanism of heat transfer will - in the future - radically improve thermal insulation. Some clays are also known to have insulation properties and Grazyna suggested that this was due to their nano-scale chemical and physical properties - we can and should learn from this. Polymers with intrinsic micro porosity, PIMs (polymers with intrinsic microporosity), and ion-exchange resins with micro and macro-pores may show the way forward.

Stephen Long of Ineos Styrenics next spoke on the end-of-life for insulation materials. The Waste Framework Directive of 2008 gave new directions on the deconstruction of buildings in Europe. Stephen pointed out that only around 1% of the total of construction and demolition waste is actually composed of insulation (and gypsum product) waste. The waste hierarchy favours the reduction of waste, then reuse, recycling, recovery and then in the final instance, landfilling. The UN has said that it wants to see an end to waste by 2050. The EU plans to refurbish 2% of the entire building stock each year to near zero energy consumption, looks to increase resource efficiency in buildings and plans that by 2020 70% of non-hazardous construction and demolition waste will be recycled. Stephen suggested around 60 different sustainability measurement methodologies are currently at large in Europe, leading to confusion and inability to compare approaches and outcomes. Construction and demolition waste (CDW) makes up a third of the waste generated in the EU and the large majority of this can be recycled, resulting in local jobs growth. The durability of insulation materials is an important factor in the life cycle analysis of insulation materials. Extended producer responsibility would make the producer responsible for the performance of the material in the post-consumer phase, i.e. during building deconstruction and recycling. Chemical additives will need to be carefully considered when being added to insulation materials: producers will need to ask themselves, 'Can these be recycled?'The EU is currently trying to nudge industry and consumers in Europe towards the establishment of a true circular materials economy, but there is obviously some way to go.

Henri Busker of the USP Marketing Consultancy looked at the status and trends of the European construction industry. In short, northern Europe is doing well, but southern Europe and France are struggling. However, despite the financial crisis, there is a trend towards more efficient buildings and higher levels of sustainability in building construction in Europe. The biggest drivers towards sustainability are laws and regulations and then economic or financial advantages (rather than idealistic considerations). Building Information Modelling (creation of a full 3D model of a building incorporating material performance information) is now required for public buildings in the UK and Netherlands, and is a strong potential trend for the future in other countries, which will change the business model for many companies involved in the building materials and construction industries.

Frederik Teisner of Qubica, the company formerly known as Seelen, spoke about the optimisation of packaging compression at the cold end of the mineral wool line, even though his company can provide all components from both hot and cold ends of the production line. The overall trend in mineral production is to compress the product more and more in order to decrease storage and distribution costs. Challenges are in over-compression, film properties and in fibre recovery. The task to make square packs, rather than oval or bowed packs, is also a challenge. The greater the compression forces required, the greater the challenges for both the machinery required for compression but also for film properties and fibre recovery. Compression forces started around the year 2000 at less than 800kg, but are now approaching 3000kg and more. A rate-dependent partial hysteresis loop of compression and expansion may be shown by mineral fibre insulation, whereby it will not expand back to its original low density after compression, and this loop will vary from product to product.

Patrice Maltais of Premier Tech Chronos next also spoke about packaging innovations for the insulation industry. The company has many capabilities for packaging and concentrates only on the cold end of insulation processing, including baling, bag placing, sealing, palletising and stretch wrapping and hooding. Patrice showed examples of bag placers and sealers, and a new stretch hooding system.

The final session of the first day of the conference was suggested by Global Insulation's own Dr Peter Edwards and consisted of an audience-driven SWOT (strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, threats) analysis of the global insulation industry, which will form the basis of a future article in Global Gypsum Magazine's insulation section.

Global Insulation Awards Dinner

Delegates journeyed by coach to the famous Tivoli Gardens in the centre of Copenhagen for an atmospheric walk through the park and for the Global Insulation Awards Dinner at a convivial circular restaurant. The Global insulation company of the year was named as Owens Corning, equipment supplier of the year was Genesys Systems Integrator, insulation plant of the year was Armacell Benelux, the Global Insulation product of the year was the Rockwool window system and the technical innovation ward went to MPN Maschinenbau for its concentrically-wound square and rectangular mineral wool pipe sections. The Global Insulation 'personality of the year' award went to Grazyna Mitchener of PolyChemTech. Delegates were then entertained by Zindy, a famous Danish chanteuse, before heading off into the night to enjoy the multifarious charms of Tivoli and night-time Copenhagen.

Second day

On the second day of the conference, Stefan Winkler of Fuchs Lubritech started the session on insulation production advances with a presentation on high temperature lubricants for mineral wool manufacturing, specifically on lubrication applications in the high-temperature curing oven conveying chains. Correct lubrication reduces chain elongation and increases chain lifetime. "Everywhere that friction occurs, lubrication must take place." The viscosity of the oil is crucial, since there is a payoff between adhesiveness (to prevent flinging-off) and the ability of the lubricant to penetrate to where it is required. Higher temperatures decrease the viscosity of oils, leading to thinner lubricating films, so that sophisticated additives may be required to alter the temperature response of the lubricants. Low evaporation rates at high temperatures are beneficial, since there is lower consumption and there will be less vapour and less condensate in the process. Low lubricant friction values lead to reduced energy consumption in the process. Stefan gave a case study of a hardening oven in a mineral wool plant whose chains had become blocked: the chains were sprayed with an extremely low viscosity ester-based oil to free them, and subsequently a standard Stabylan lubricant was used to maintain free movement.

Mark Brims of Cottonscope Pty Ltd next introduced the CottonscopeHD instrument for the rapid and accurate measurement of fibre diameter distribution. A custom optical system captures images of fibres dispersed in water, using a powerful LED strobe which flashes in pulses a few microseconds long. The instrument can measure thousands of fibres per minute and gives a graph of the fibre diameter distribution of the sample. Higher numbers of diameter measurements brings down the standard deviation of the determination. The instrument can also be used to determine the curvature of fibres. Mark pointed out that the machine could be used for a number of different tasks in the insulation industry, including the forecasting of resistance to compression of mineral fibre bats.

A co-authored paper from Gregor Haverkemper and Marc Fricke, both from parts of BASF, spoke about an innovative insulation material. Prevention of CO₂ emissions through the use of insulation is one of the main opportunities for the company. The authors mentioned that any house built in Germany now has to be three times more energy efficient than back in 1980, when 040 lambda materials might have been the norm. BASF patented the Styropor EPS material back in 1950, and has been innovating in foams for insulation ever since. Since 1996, the company has been using CO₂ as a blowing agent, sacrificing some lambda for better environmental performance. The company has also switched to high molecular weight non-bioavailable polymeric flame retardants. By dosing graphite into EPS to create Neopor, the company reduced infra-red conductivity especially at low insulation density. Triple-paned windows were shown to have a payback time of perhaps 25 years, while external wall insulation had a payback time of 15 years, roof insulation 12 years and basement ceiling insulation only about eight years. A polyurethane-based aerogel insulation called Slentite was introduced. Again using the Knudsen effect, where thermal conductivity is reduced as the diameter of pores is reduced, especially to below a cell size of 68nm, it was pointed out that nano-pores dramatically reduce heat transfer between gas molecules. Slentite is a new type of organic aerogel based on polyurethane chemistry exhibiting homogeneous nanoporosity, achieving the best insulation rating for a strong panel with a lambda value down to 17mW/mK. A new pilot plant is being constructed for the material, prior to offering the product to consumers.

Dimitry Eliseev of Himsintez Llc of Russia, next spoke on a means to cut down emissions during the production of mineral and glass wool. Phenol-based resins used in the production of mineral wools can be volatile during the curing step, forming formaldehyde. Ecose insulation from Knauf and Metadynea's additives show the way forward to low or zero-formaldehyde insulation. Himsintez offers an oil emulsion 'Emoil F,' an oil emulsion and formaldehyde acceptor. At temperatures over around 240°C, the acceptor binds any formaldehyde into a non-volatile form, which also neutralises free phenol groups and decreases discolouration of insulation and plaster when in the presence of iron-based compounds.

Petri Jetsu of the VTT Technical Research Centre of Finland went on to speak about foam-formed wood-based thermal insulation panels. In foam forming, fibres, water, a foaming agent and other materials are mixed to create a foam, with an air content of 50 - 70%: fibres are 'frozen' in their dispersed state, leading to uniform material distribution. Using this process, highly porous sheets can be produced, with excellent layering properties. The foam can be modified in a number of ways, including its density, stability and bubble size distribution, to alter final properties. A variety of fibre lengths can also be used which again will change product properties. Very high speed production lines (2000m/minute) can be used to produce the material. Water absorption can be reduced with the addition of an alkyl ketone dimer synthesised from fatty acids, while addition of modified nitrogen-containing phosphate salts improves fire-retardancy. Thermal insulation properties can be improved by closing the surface of any produced insulation panels or by forming closed-cell like structures in the insulation panels. Petri concluded by saying that the technology was available for commercialisation, to the obvious interest of attendant insulation company delegates.

Michel Cassart of Total Refining & Chemicals spoke about Excell-R grey EPS. Insulation is the fastest-growing styrenics market, forming 25% of the total European market, and showing 4% annual growth. Michel said that the Egyptians extracted a special resin from trees for mummification 5000 years ago, the active ingredient from which has been progressively improved to create polystyrene. EPS and XPS products have the same basic chemical building blocks, but EPS incorporates a blowing agent and creates low density products, while XPS products have higher compressive strength: the two types are used for different applications. Excell-R EPS is a grey EPS with improved thermal resistance, typically 20% higher than white EPS products. Michel introduced 'airpop,' a new name for polystyrene.

Professor Young Cheol Kwon of Halla University of South Korea closed the conference programme by speaking about phenolic foam boards. Open and closed-cell phenolic foam boards have different properties. The closed cells of the boards are formed by a non-freon blowing agent, has high insulation performance, long term integrity and non-burning characteristics. Closed-cell phenolic foam has insulating performance similar to EPS and to glass wool. Professor Kwon pointed out that the cost of insulation is a very small proportion of the total cost of the total building and said that designers should install insulation beyond what is currently required by building codes.

Farewell and conference prizes

At the conference farewell party, a number of prizes were awarded, including for the best exhibition stand award which went to Enetex. In the best presentation awards, voted-for by the delegates, Michel Cassart was third with his paper on Excell-R EPS, while Gregor Haverkemper and Marc Fricke of BASF were the runners-up. However, Grazyna Mitchener won her second prize at the conference, winning the prize for the best presentation at the event.
Delegates at the conference rated Global Insulation Conference very highly, with the best ever exhibition, networking potential and conference overall marks.

The 10th Global Insulation Conference, Exhibition and Awards will take place in Istanbul in September 2015.

Image gallery for the Global Insulation Conference and Exhibition which took place in Berlin, Germany on 15-16 October 2007.

Global Insulation Conference & Exhibition 2015
29 - 30 September 2015, Istanbul, Turkey

Image gallery for the 10th Global Insulation Conference and Exhibition 2015

The 10th Global Insulation Conference has successfully taken place, in Istanbul in September 2015, with 160 delegates from 30 countries in attendance, as well as an exhibition of 26 technology and service suppliers. The 11th Global Insulation Conference will take place in Hamburg in September 2016.

A welcome party firstly took place in the Global Insulation Exhibition area, where 26 exhibitors from around the world offered their equipment and services to the many customers in attendance.

The following day, Orhan Turan of ODE Yalitim Sanayi gave the first presentation at the 10th Global Insulation Conference, firstly looking at the Turkish macroeconomic scene: Turkish GDP has tripled since 2003 and the country has a CAGR of around 5%. Half of the Turkish population is under 30 years old and, in an optimistic light, the growth prospects for the country are outstanding. Turkey is an export-focused economy, with US$137bn of exports in 2014. Within a four hour flight, there are 1.5bn people and countries with US$28tn in GDP: Turkey is well-placed for trade and this has also encouraged foreign direct investment, with 41,000 foreign companies represented in the country. The construction sector represents around 6% of Turkish GDP, with the number of construction permits tripling between 2002 and 2014 and over one million housing units sold in 2014. The construction industry exports around US$20bn of goods each year, although this is skewed by strong cement exports. As a result of urban transformation and earthquake strengthening measures, 6.5 million buildings are expected to be redeveloped over the next decade. The Turkish insulation sector has grown from US$0.3bn to US$5bn from 2002 to 2014, while growth rates for insulation consumption in recent years have been in double figures, ranging up to 14%: Insulation growth typically rises at two to three times GDP growth. The market is dominated by EPS and XPS, followed by glass wool, stone wool and polyurethane products. Since Turkey imports 75% of its energy needs, costing US$55bn in 2014, insulation is critically required. Orhan Turan showed that the installation of insulation in Turkey will save tens of billions of dollars - with or without government support - leading up to the 100th anniversary of the establishment of the Turkish Republic in 2023.

The second presentation at the conference was given by Robert McCaffrey of Global Insulation, and was a SWOT analysis (‘strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and strengths’) of the global insulation industry, as suggested by participants at the previous Global Insulation Conference in 2014 in Copenhagen. Critical issues for the industry are energy costs (higher is good for insulation demand but bad for manufacturing and feedstock costs - and vice versa); potential reputational damage from a variety of sources; a lack of understanding of insulation by potential customers; population growth, urbanisation and ‘comfort inflation,’ where people expect greater levels of comfort while indoors, in terms of temperature moderation and indoor air quality.

Vadim Novikov of TechnoNicol next gave a presentation on the current trends and future prospects for the construction and insulation sectors in Russia and the CIS countries. He suggested that the decline in investment in building and construction will amount to around 5% through 2015, partly due to the current sanctions regime. Stone wool and glass wool both have around a third of the market share, with polymers taking another third. PIR and PUR are expected to increase their share, alongside XPS, while stone wool and EPS are expected to lose market share. After a dip through to 2016, the markets are expected to grow again from 2017. Low crude oil prices have led to lower government revenues, which has led to a lower GDP and lower government investment and expenditure. At the same time, high inflation rate has led to higher prices and lower purchasing power. Potential for growth will come from energy efficiency programmes, renovation programmes, big projects - including the World Cup in 2018, additional attention to fire safety regulations and requirements and also through import substitution. Special investment programmes have also been proposed for the Far East and for the Lake Baikal regions. Vadim suggested that the market for stone wool in Ukraine will increase from 2017, largely due to reconstruction in the current war zone and a requirement to comply with European norms for construction. The Kazakhstan market for stone wool, on the other hand, has been continuously growing and this will continue for the foreseeable future: Astana will hold the World Expo in 2017 and this has and will drive construction growth. Belorussian demand for stone wool has stagnated through 2014-2015, but is set to pick up again - but economic development is dependent on economic progress in Russia. Vadim suggested that the insulation import market into Russia is now effectively ‘dead’ due to the depreciation of value of the Russian Ruble. On the other hand, this means that insulation exports have increased for the same reasons, since buying Russian insulation for foreigners is cheaper that it was before the depreciation. TechnoNicol accounts for around 75% of Russian insulation exports. Vadim pointed out that the overall stone wool production capacity in Russia amounts to 1.5Mt, but that demand amounts to only around 1.2Mt.

Volkan Ongel of Elit-Plast Ltd next spoke on insulation market trends in Ukraine and the CIS counties. He started his business importing stone wool into Ukraine and the CIS countries from Turkey, but finally built a brand-new factory in central Ukraine to manufacture insulation locally. The market shares for stone wool, glass wool and EPS were in agreement with those given by Vadim Novikov, at around a third each. DIY hypermarkets have recently been set up in Ukraine (requiring customers to provide their own transportation for purchases), and this is increasingly the main channel of sales in the country. Although the market for insulation in Crimea is now effectively closed to the rest of the country, the situation in the east of the country is more fluid and some sales may still be possible. Certainly a great deal of reconstruction will be required, as shown by photographs of the new-in-2012 Donetsk airport and its utter ruins of today. Ukraine’s fast-growing population and GDP growth potential suggest a longer-term bright outlook for the insulation industry, even if there are strong headwinds at the moment.

Roland Caps of the Vacuum Insulation Panel Association, VIPA, spoke about the current status of VIPs and on future trends. VIPs - formerly a laboratory novelty but now in the mainstream - have extremely low thermal conductivity. Micro-porous powders such as fumed silica or perlite are usually used for the core, supplied as boards, while glass fibres can also be used if they have been compressed: PU foams can also be used. The ideal core material should have low cost per mass, low density, small pores, low thermal conductivity and long service lifetime. The thermal performance of a VIP drops dramatically if it is punctured and air is allowed in, although fumed silica cores retain their insulating properties best. The Knudsen Effect means that the mean free path of air molecules is limited in micro-porous materials, decreasing conduction to nearly zero. To take advantage of the effect, organic nano-foams are being developed for polystyrene- and polyurethane-base VIPs, using a sol-gel process, reducing their conductivity (even in air) to low levels and also increasing service life. A new product from BASF called Slentite is an open porous polyurethane aerogel rigid board that may boost VIP performance even further: a production plant at Lemförde, Germany, has been completed and commercial products are now eagerly awaited. In a VIP, the gas envelope must be gas-impermeable, should have low thermal conductivity and sufficient puncture resistance to allow long service life. Aluminium-based films are common, although stainless-steel films have also been used. All films are both air and moisture permeable over their lifetime of decades. Barrier films are a major cost factor in the overall cost of a VIP. VIPs are used in building insulation, particularly in interiors where space is at a premium; in appliances particularly fridges and freezers; and in thermal-based transport (particularly in combination with phase change materials). Roland said that the development of reliable methods to measure the aging process of VIPs in the building sector is of the utmost importance for the industry and International standards are set to be agreed in the next couple of years. Roland presented test results where VIPs were stored at 50°C and 70% relative humidity for six months, and were tested every two months. Results may be extrapolated to indicate performance after 25 years at the standard climate of 23°C and 50% relative humidity. The total market size for VIPs is around US$400m per year, increasing at a rate of around 17% per year over the next few years.

Martin Wiesweg of IHS Chemical next spoke on the outlook for feedstock, EPS and XPS markets. Industry consultants IHS have created a sophisticated supply, demand and economic model to forecast future price moves in these commodities. Critical factors in the models are the sharp slowdown in demand from China and the drop in cost of oil, partly due to oversupply. World polystyrene demand is 65% of global production capacity, meaning that it is easy and relatively inexpensive to find this feedstock for XPS on the markets. EPS shows the same market dynamics, with a peak in market demand in 2012 and a moderation since then, although Martin forecast a growth in demand of 2.5% per year to the end of the forecast period (2020). China is the main player in the EPS market, and its demand is still falling, but is expected to flatten out in 2016. Martin pointed out that mineral wools gained a competitive advantage over the last couple of years since the price of energy dropped, compared to the fall in the cost of feedstock for polymer insulation. Feedstock of benzene-naphtha/styrene-benzene will be constrained in the future, and this is expected to provide a floor to costs at a relatively high level. Global demand is flat but growth will return. Prices will follow styrene costs, but, he concluded, “Grey EPS materials will dominate the future polymer insulation market.”

Tiina Pöhler of the VTT Technical Research Centre in Finland next spoke on the development of wood-based thermal insulation materials. Tiina pointed out that wood-based materials make up less than 1% of the overall insulation market, in the ‘others’ section, and this includes cellulose (recycled papers) wood fibre, flax and animal (sheep) fibres. The amount of pulp and paper production in Finland has decreased markedly in the digital age, down by some 4Mt/yr; new applications are now being sought. Wood fibres are inexpensive and may be chemically or mechanically processed to give materials of different properties. New wood cellulose materials are under development, including cellulose nano fibres by fibrillation (CNF) and cellulose nano crystals (CNC) by acid hydrolysis. Macrofibres have modest insulation performance, whereas the nano-materials have outstanding properties. Existing wood fibre insulation products use virgin wood fibres, which are mechanically defibrated and are then wet or dry processed into panels, or into flexible batts with the addition of long thermobonding fibres. Recycled paper-based products are typically loose blown insulation products. Tiina gave details of some new wood-based insulation products from around the world: A new porous paper-plastic-composite closed-cell material has been trialled, and has been produced in Korea and Japan. A German surfactant-aided foam-based wet papermaking pulp slurry insulation has been produced (further details at wotim.eu), while the Fraunhofer Institute has made an insulation material by grinding wood into a slime, and then introducing a gas into the slime to make the insulation product - further details are not yet available. Melodea Ltd has made cellulose nano fibres from pulp and paper mills using foam preparation by ‘ice templating,’ while other research efforts are also under way. Tiina mentioned the WoTIM multi-organisation project to create a new bio-based cellulosic in-situ spray-on thermal insulation foam to replace traditional spray-on plastic insulation foams. The foam-forming technology uses small air bubbles containing aqueous foam as a process fluid; when the wet fibrous foam is dried, a highly porous fibre structure is formed, of open cells. Thermal conductivity of the material so produced is in the range of 34-37mW/m.K, a little better than other wood-based insulation materials. Compression strength is low at the low bulk densities produced in the experiments. Future developments will include the addition of fire retardants, a decrease of water take-up and means to reduce thermal conductivity yet further.

Steve Jaasund of Lundberg Geoenergy spoke next, on the subject of air emissions control - the first time that the subject has been covered at the Global Insulation Conference. Steve pointed out that the predominant technology used for particulate control for mineral wool cupolas is the use of fabric filters, which can lead to more than 95% collection efficiency. However, CO concentrations can lead to fires and caution must be exercised. Glass melting furnaces produce dry hot gases with low concentrations of particulate matter, with some VOC if recycled cullet glass is used, and with the possibility of the presence of hexavalent chromium from the refractory lining of the kiln; the best emission control technology in this case is fabric filtration or electrostatic precipitation. Wool-forming lines have a low temperature, high volume moist gas streams, with content of resins and glass fibres and some VOCs from resin evaporation; the best emission control is the use of wet scrubbers or wet electrostatic precipitation: less than 10mg/Nm3 can be expected. Care must be taken in this situation to avoid microbiological corrosion. Mineral wool curing lines produce a higher-temperature gas stream with particulate matter consisting of condensed partially-cured resin and entrained glass fibres: regenerative thermal oxidation might be the best technology, but the RTO media may become fouled by recondensed silica minerals. Wool cooling line emissions will be at low temperature and low particulate concentrations, and for these scrubbers or ‘throw-away’ filters can be used. Finally, for rigid foam lines, with low temperature and low VOC concentration, RTO would be the preferred technology, although again, measures must be taken against silane poisoning.

Stefan Winkler of Fuchs Lubritech spoke about the perhaps un-sexy but certainly crucial topic of the high temperature lubrication of chains in the insulation industry. Roller chains are commonly used as drive chains - for example in hardening ovens in mineral wool production - and have high efficiency and quiet operation, but they are expensive and difficult to lubricate. A chain lubricant must have good penetrability, the ability to protect against aggressive ambient conditions such as dust and humidity, a low tendency to build-up solid residues, low evaporation losses, reduction of friction, adhesiveness and environmental compatibility. The optimal point of application is as the chain leaves the driving sprocket, so that the lubricant has time to work its way into the slack chain before it arrives at the driven sprocket. A variety of sophisticated tests can be used to determine the applicability of different lubricants for use in the insulation industry.

Global Insulation Awards Gala Dinner Cruise

In the evening after the conference first day, delegates enjoyed a picturesque night-time cruise along the Bosphorus in a luxurious dining yacht. During the cruise, the Global Insulation Awards were presented, after a two-stage online nomination and voting process. Turkish company ODE was awarded the ‘Insulation company of the year’ award – apposite, perhaps, during the company’s 30th anniversary celebrations. Grenzebach was awarded ‘equipment supplier of the year,’ and Rockwool International’s Doense plant was awarded the ‘plant of the year’ award for its recent upgrade project. Paroc’s eXtra Finnish Standard mineral wool was awarded the ‘product of the year’ award, while Wacker Chemie’s Silres BS 5137 water-repellent emulsion was named as the technical innovation of the year. The Global Insulation ‘Personality of the year’ was awarded to the founder of ODE – the irrepressible Orhan Turan, a popular winner.

Conference second day

Michel Cassart of Total started the second day with a paper on trends in styrenics and on the nano-design of insulation. Michel pointed out that some polystyrenes are found in nature – notably in some of the resins used to mummify corpses in ancient Egypt, and that the natural and synthetic molecules are identical. Now there is a demand worldwide for around 27Mt of styrene monomer, with Asia accounting for around half of the demand. The liquid material is transported worldwide - notably from the US which has an excess, to Asia. Expandable polystyrene accounts for around 6.5Mt/yr of the material and is used for a variety of end products, including insulation. XPS is produced from the raw material, a blowing agent and other additives and the material is then extruded into the form of a board. On the other hand, the raw material for EPS is supplied as a bead with an included blowing agent and all required additives, that is to say, the full formulation: The beads expand in the presence of steam to form the expanded polystyrene. The properties of the products in terms of radiation losses and cell size can be adjusted with changes in blowing agents, with additives and other process variables. ‘Athermanous’ additives to EPS reduce radiation losses, giving rise to grey EPS, and this material is progressively taking over from white EPS in a variety of markets. Total’s own grey EPS product is called Excell-R and boasts 20% improved insulation performance over white EPS.

Michael Schumm of Saint-Gobain Isover G+H next spoke on a new fire barrier for EPS-based ETICS. Exterior Thermal Insulation Composite Systems are insulation systems that are used on the outside of buildings and there are different regulations for buildings of different heights: buildings below 7m in height can use flammable materials, but for buildings between 7-22m in height you are required to use flame resistant materials with a flame barrier every two floors (and for buildings above 22m a non-combustible insulation material must be used - partly due to the length of the ladders used by the firefighters). Although the final system should be fire-resistant, before the final render is applied the system may be fire-prone. A new ‘fire barrier-plus’ consists of a panel of mineral wool with a coated and inclined top surface, which avoids a candle-effect from burning foam insulation and which absorbs liquified styrenes in an oxygen-deficient wedge, which will not allow the material to burn and flash over.

Simon Waddington of Novomer then presented a paper about the use of CO2-based polymers for insulation. The basis of the Co2nverge method is the use of a proprietary catalyst that uses waste CO2 and an epoxide to produce polycarbonate polyols with a high density carbonate backbone which is economically attractive to produce due to the use of low-cost CO2 as a major ingredient, and which at the same time sustainably sequesters CO2. These polyols can be used to make rigid polyisocyanurate insulation foams. Development of the process has focused on optimising blends and on processing - at first the viscosity of the material was too high to allow it to be effectively pumped around the processing machines but this problem has now been addressed, partly through the use of blends. A variety of additives are required to enhance the properties of the final material, including flame retardants, although these CO2-based polyols have a lower heat of combustion which can translate to a reduced flame retardant requirement. An industrial-scale trial has been undertaken and now Novomer is in the planning phase of building a 100,000t/yr plant to produce its products.

Markus Roos of Evonik next spoke about what he called ‘magic additives,’ the use of organic modified siloxanes as a process and performance additive for insulation materials. Markus pointed out that siloxanes are perfect chemicals for controlling the interfaces between difference phases: liquid to solid; liquid to gas and other combinations. Markus stated that silicones are already widely used in the insulation industry, including as water repellents, wetting agents, release agents, defoamers, softeners, dispersants, air stabilisers and drainage aids. Siloxanes are compounds that contain Si-O-Si bonds and they come in a very wide range of variants. Organomodified siloxanes have organic groups fixed to the siloxane backbone which can radically modify the properties of the compound, for example making an oil soluble in water. The low surface tension of the compounds helps to reduce the dosage required and, depending on the functional groups, the compounds can be made to be hydrophilic or hydrophobic. Critically, the compounds permanently bind to building materials, enhancing processing, surface and material properties.

Jérémy Dutrey of Gascogne Flexible ended the presentation programme by speaking about adding value to insulation through the use of facing products. Jérémy pointed out that most insulation properties are given by the insulation itself, but part of an insulation board will need an appropriate facing to improve insulation properties, to improve appearance and to help with production or processing. He suggested that the use of a facing material is key for the efficiency of PIR materials, for reflective foils and for VIPs and that facings can usefully add value to nearly all insulation types. Facings can bring mechanical strength, thermal efficiency (through gas tightness), fire retardancy in some cases and enhancement to the visual appearance of the product in almost all cases. At the same time, the facing layer is required to have good adhesion to the substrate, to have temperature stability or the ability to match the thermal dimensional changes of the insulation and to have good printability. Facing materials may be paper or Kraft-based or may be composed of foils or other materials; Jérémy concluded that up to nine separate layers may be combined to provide the desired combination of properties.

Conference prize-giving

At the end of the conference, a cocktail party was held, during which the conference prizes were awarded: Grenzebach was awarded the ‘best exhibition stand’ prize. After delegate voting, prizes were awarded for the top three most popular presentations: Vadim Novikov was third for his paper on the influence of the Russian economic crisis on insulation demand; Michel Cassart was second for his paper on worldwide trends in styrenics; but the winner of the best presentation award was Michael Schumm of Saint-Gobain Isover G+H for his paper on a new fire barrier for EPS-based ETICS.

The conference and exhibition were highly rated by attendees – particularly for technical content and for networking potential. The next Global Insulation Conference – the 11th – will take place in Hamburg in September 2016 and is expected to be the largest event yet – we look forward to meeting you there!

Image gallery for the 3rd Global Insulation Conference and Exhibition which took place in Barcelona, Spain on 16-17 October 2008.