Image gallery for the the 14th Global Insulation Conference and Exhibition which took place in Ljubljana, Slovenia on 25 - 26 September 2019.
Global Insulation 2017 review
Global Insulation Conference & Exhibition 2017
25 - 26 September 2016, Krakow, Poland
The 12th Global Insulation Conference successfully took place in Krakow, Poland, in September 2017 with 150 delegates from 27 countries. The event also included an exhibition of 20 technology and service suppliers. The 13th Global Insulation Conference will take place in Vienna, Austria, in September 2018.
Image gallery for the 12th Global Insulation Conference and Exhibition 2017
View the Global Insulation Conference 2017 Video
View video of Paper 1 - Innovate like a startup in a mature industry, Diana Fisler, Johns Manville
Diana Fisler of Johns Manville started off by telling delegates that “Your business is one idea away from obsolescence.” She gave as an example a reflective foil that can potentially cool buildings by 10°C, putting out of business a range of insulation industries in the process. Looking back in history, Diana mentioned that Johns Manville started off with one of the founders experimenting with some cloth and some tar poured from a tea kettle, to develop a roofing material. Diana pointed out that even old companies must continue to innovate, otherwise other companies will come along and ‘eat their cake.’ Johns Manville now has dedicated innovation units that are insulated from the rest of the business, structured so that they are driven by customer needs. Winners, said Diana, are those companies that target big latent needs, that listen, observe and use data, that eliminate pain or solve problems and that deliver great experiences. Diana outlined a five stage process (idea: concept: business case: develop: commercialise) that shepherds ideas through to the market. There is no timeline to the process - it takes as long as it takes. However, there is plenty of research on why startups fail, the main reason being that there is no market need for the innovation. Finding the unmet needs in the market is crucial, and this is done through speaking to customers, and really ‘getting to the nub’ of what they need. Innovation to address customer needs is then undertaken in incubator groups. In a forthright video, two Johns Manville employees in successful product development groups pointed out that it can be difficult to get things done quickly in a big company, but that there are advantages in having deep technical knowledge available and also having significant financial resources that can be accessed by the startups. Continuing challenges include the impact of legacy systems and the timing of the decision on when to transfer the startup into a company business unit. Diana Fisler concluded that for startups to work they must ‘stay hungry.’
Per Nissen of Qubiqa next spoke about the state-of-the-art in automation in the insulation industry. The push towards automation is primarily driven by a focus on costs, but automation can also lead to more consistent and higher quality products. Ergonomics and the avoidance of repetitive work and heavy lifting, has led to more automated work stations and the introduction of more robots. Safety is becoming the most important factor, while another is that there is an increasing shortage of skilled diligent workers willing to work in factories. A high turnover of workers is leading to a constant ‘bleed’ of knowledge from the industry. At the end of the day though, the prime motivator for increased automation and increased use of robots is money. Per claimed that the increased level of automation and roboticisation in the industry would actually lead to an increase in the level of technical skill required, albeit in a smaller workforce. The knowledge that was previously in the minds of your shop floor workers should be accumulated in your controls and software systems through ‘data capture,’ in an example of ‘Industry 4.0.’
Grazyna Mitchener of Polychemtech Ltd next spoke about the lessons that could be learned from the Grenfell Tower tragedy of 14 June 2017, in which around 80 people died. Many instances were given by Grazyna of cladding catching fire and the fire spreading, with many casualties and deaths. “People before money: justice has to be done,” said Dr Mitchener, but what is the best way forward? Finding out the reasons for the disaster is the obvious first step. “Grenfell firstly ran out of luck,” said Grazyna, with many factors contributing to the disaster, leading to great loss of life in circumstances that in other buildings separately would have mitigated the effects of a fire. Grazyna gave 20 different factors why the disaster occurred and why it became so severe. However, she concluded that wrongly-specified cladding and the system that it was built into was the main factor. The insulation on the building did as it was supposed, and when exposed to fire it charred. However, the web of factors that led to the fire made it almost inevitable that it would eventually happen - if not here, then in similar circumstances somewhere else.
Pavel Zemene of the Czech EPS association next spoke on the fire safety of ETICS with EPS. Critically, ETICS systems do not include an air-gap. He pointed out that a correctly-specified and built system with EPS is no less safe than those using other types of insulation material.
David Yarbrough of R&D Services next spoke about the state-of-the-art in reflective insulation, starting off by stating that in this type of insulation at least one surface has a low-emittance surface, and that it includes an enclosed air-space. David pointed out that the effectiveness of reflective insulation can be maintained or even increased at lower temperatures, so that it is not just a ‘hot’ insulation material. Metallised films are now commonly used in place of aluminium foil in order to improve fire performance.
Stanislav Shcheglov of TechnoNicol, Russia, next spoke on the determination of lifetime performance of roofing insulation systems. He firstly pointed out that his company, which is 25 years old in 2017, now operates in 90 countries, manufacturing mainly mineral-based insulation products. Stanislav said that flat roofs can be characterised according to the loads that they are able to bear. In general, the more heavy-duty and load-bearing the roof, the longer will be its operational lifespan. However, Stanislav pointed out that after its 40-year design lifespan, an ‘expensive’ heavy-duty roofing system still may be the cheapest overall, due to lower maintenance requirements.
A co-authoured presentation from Oliver Meuter of S4 Automation GmbH and from Bernd Bergmann of Fagus-Grecon Greten GmbH next gave details on the automatic control of glasswool distribution. Instrument-maker Fagus-Grecon aims for zero-defect production, on the basis of ‘measure it before it costs!’ Automatic control of glasswool fibre distribution allows for the operation of a more stable process, faster job changes, and more accurate and efficient production of required products. An X-ray system, ‘Dieffensor,’ is used to scan the produced batt, while image and pattern recognition software is used to automatically detect defects and to feed back into the control of the distribution of the fibres in the production process.
At the end of the first day of the conference, delegates enjoyed a dinner at the Wieliczka salt mines.
Second day
On the second day of the conference, Ryan Cekander of ClimateRecovery.com spoke about a ‘Kodak moment’ for the insulation and HVAC (heating ventilation and air conditioning) industries. In the 1980s, Kodak was one of the world’s top five most valuable brands. The company was an early pioneer in digital imaging, but failed to invest in continuing research and development. Kodak also misunderstood the future of photography, imagining that it was going to continue to emphasise the printing of photos (which was a major source of profits), rather to almost entirely transforming to a digital and non-printed form. Ryan suggested that participants in the insulation industry should recognise the opportunities that disruptive technologies bring to the sector and that they should embrace them to avoid being left behind. He pointed out that sheet metal ducts made from spiralised metal are inefficient in that the transport to the job site involves transporting air, while pre-insulated duct boards may be manufactured centrally and constructed locally. The offering from CR is pre-insulated and pre-fabricated air ducts, that can be transported flat and which spring into shape at the job site.
Andreas Guertler of the European Industrial Insulation Foundation (EiiF) next gave delegates an overview of potential energy savings in Europe using insulation. Andreas pointed out that EU Directives stipulate that major industries must undertake an energy audit at least once every four years. The insulation and energy-saving measures that can subsequently be undertaken typically have a payback period of two years or less. The Technical Insulation Performance Check (TIPCheck) audit can quickly identify opportunities for energy efficiency and the increased application of insulation. Andreas stated that there is potential for increased energy efficiency in every industry and in every country, for example on valves, storage tanks and flanges. He said that the annual cost-effective energy saving in Europe is 620PJ, equal to the energy consumption of 10 million households. 100 TIPChecks realise around 1PJ in energy savings, so around 62,000 TIPChecks will be required to audit and then to realise all of the potential cost-effective insulation installations.
Petri Jetsu of the VTT Technical Research Centre of Finland next spoke on the potential of fibre-containing water/surfactant foam-forming technology for the production of building materials. The foam, ‘with the consistency of shaving foam,’ has an air-content of 40-70%. He said that the uniformity of the produced material is excellent, and that it is possible to produce both porous and dense products, using a wide variety of wood-based fibres from the nano-scale to those several centimetres long. It is also possible to produce layered products, while the technology is cost-competitive and resource-efficient. The sheets produced have moderate thermal conductivity, especially at a density of around 20-30kg/m3. Compressive strength, however, increased with increased density, so that a trade-off must be achieved.
Uwe Scheite of Lubritech pointed out that the higher the temperature of operation of lubricants in the insulation industry, the more often the lubricant may be required to be reapplied, depending on the temperature stability of the base grease. Fully synthetic greases offer stability at elevated temperature, giving longer grease lifetimes and reduced relubrication requirements. Correct lubrication not only extends equipment life, but also reduces energy consumption due to the lower power draw.
The penultimate presentation at the event was given by Mrs Fatma Baysu of ISIDEM Insulation, Turkey, on an indirect testing method for the water vapour diffusion resistance of flexible elastomeric insulating foam. It is, needless to say, critical to manage water vapour diffusion into and through insulation, in order to optimise insulation performance and to avoid condensation, and potential corrosion. Mineral wool has a water vapour diffusion resistance factor (µ) of 1-1.2, polyurethane foam (PUR) has a factor of 40-100, EPS has 20-100µ, XPS 100-400µ, while EPDM-based elastomeric rubber foam has µ of 3000, polyethylene foam (PEF) 3000-5000µ and NBR-based elastomeric rubber foam 5000-10,000µ. EN 12086 is widely used as a test standard for rolls, and EN 13469 for tubes. The new EN ISO 1516-3 test is based on an electrolytic test instrument and standard-thickness samples, but initial tests give somewhat different numbers compared to earlier tests. Work continues.
Alexander Frenzl of Netzsch, producer of analytical machines, gave the final presentation at the conference, on quality control of insulation materials, specifically their thermal conductivity (Lambda value) and thermal resistance (R-values). Netzsch manufactures compact instruments that can measure these values on an automatic or semi-automatic basis, although care must be taken to avoid condensation effects during the test, through the use of an air-conditioned ‘Lambda room’ or through flushing the instrument with dried air.
At the farewell party, Grazyna Mitchener was awarded third prize in the best presentation awards, with Ryan Cekander in second place and Andreas Guertler in first place for his paper on the potential for industrial insulation in Europe. The 13th Global Insulation Conference will take place in Vienna in September 2018.
Global Insulation 2016 review
Global Insulation Conference & Exhibition 2016
26 - 27 September 2016, Hamburg, Germany
Image gallery for the 11th Global Insulation Conference and Exhibition 2016
The 11th Global Insulation Conference successfully took place in Hamburg, Germany in September 2016 with 150 delegates from 27 countries. The event also included an exhibition of 25 technology and service suppliers. The 12th Global Insulation Conference will take place in Krakow in September 2017.
Joe Harder, OneStone Consulting opened the programme with an overview of worldwide market potential for the insulation sector. His starting point was that 80% of the 210 million buildings in the European Union (EU) are energy inefficient in terms of heating, cooling and ventilation. 35% of these are more than 50 years old and, in Germany, Harder’s home nation, there is no state funding or other stimulus to encourage homeowners to insulate their abodes. After setting the scene with the European construction markets and their size and importance to the region, he calculated the worldwide insulation market at US$37bn in 2015 and rising to US$45bn in 2020 with some variation from other analysts. By region, Asia holds the largest market for insulation, followed by North America and Europe. By product type, the market is fairly evenly split between organic and inorganic insulation. This product type breakdown follows into most of the regions, although Asia markedly has a preference for plastic foam. Types of mineral wool used varies considerably in different territories, with a preference for glass wool in North America and a preference for stone wool in Russia and the Commonwealth of Independent States
Moving to projections by product type, Harder showed that glass wool is predicted to grow by the biggest amount from 2015 to 2020 in North America closely followed by plastic foam. Owens Corning mothballed some of its production capacity from 2005 to 2015 in response to under-utilisation. It has since stated that it needs 1.2 – 1.4m/year housing starts to justify reopening this capacity. In Europe insulation volumes fell from 2013 to 2015 but they are expected to pick up to 2020 to a value of US$11.9bn and with a rising compound annual growth rate (CAGR). OneStone predicts that the insulation market in Europe will see slight increases in volumes and prices from 2016 to 2018, with a slight variation in the mix of product type.
Second to present was Peter Edwards from Global Insulation, outlining the situation leading up to the UK vote to leave the EU. As a UK citizen Peter was well positioned to offer his ‘unbiased’ take on the ‘Brexit’ vote, including how former Prime Minister David Cameron called it in the first place, the fallout and prospects of the future relationships between the UK and the EU, as well as the prospects for the insulation sector. As with almost every area of the UK economy, the effects of the Brexit decision on the UK insulation sector will take many years to emerge. In the short term it is possible that, combined with low fossil fuel prices, Brexit negotiations could detract from environmental efforts, including any new incentives for insulation (after the collapse of the UK ‘Green Deal’).
Martin Wiesweg, IHS Global followed with a look at the outlook for expanded polystyrene (EPS) and extruded polystyrene (XPS). His opening point was that oil prices have started to rise following a two-year period of oversupply as global (oil) liquids demand is estimated to have exceeded supply in the second quarter of 2016, the first time it has done this since 2013, with the price of Brent Crude projected to grow to an average of US$52/barrel in 2017. Global EPS demand has stagnated for about the same period as the oversupply of oil, with operating rates falling to below 60% which he described as a ‘bad’ result. Europe has fared better, with demand returning to growth since 2015, growing faster than production capacity. Subsequently, Wiesweg expects imports to grow, supporting capacity growth in countries like Turkey. Chinese EPS demand has presented its own challenges given that the regulations were seriously tightened following a fire in 2012. He then went on to show the broadly similar relationship between styrene and power prices, explaining the various spikes in styrene prices due to peaks in offline production capacity.
From here, Ulbert Hofstra, SGS Intron took over for a discussion of environmental product declarations (EPD) in Europe. His key point was that different EPDs exist, such as ones based on a life cycle assessment (LCA), for different countries. This makes it hard for producers to unify their products across different markets. The focus on EPDs was important because, once buildings become more advanced, their environmental profile concentrates more on the materials used. EPDs are used for different reasons in different locations. So, for example, they are a requirement in Germany, a requirement for products with sustainability claims in Belgium and they are required for building calculations and for tendering purposes in the Netherlands. The growth in EPDs has led for a need for harmonisation in method, quality, generic data (such as that used in a LCA database) and availability. Work towards this is continuing apace, with the European Standard EN 15804 providing the method and Ecoplatform providing the quality control. The INDATA initiative allows for exchange of EPDs between different jurisdictions in the EU. Yet the biggest hurdle at present is the lack of a generic database exacerbated by competitive database products in the market. Hofstra’s closing point was that most of the work in an LCA towards an EPD is in the data collection allowing for recalculation in a different LCA if necessary.
Following lunch, delegates heard from Grazyna Mitchener, PolyChemTech on the topic of ‘seeing the unseen,’ i.e. heat, in the insulation sector. She outlined the improvements to the production of previously prohibitively expensive aerogel products, thanks to EMPA’s new one pot process, which reduced the reaction time by a factor of five. She also discussed cross-linked, fibre-reinforced and polymeric aerogels.
Moving onto more futuristic technologies, Mitchener urged delegates to move away from thinking about heat in terms of conduction and convection, towards treating heat as a wave. She suggested ‘counter-wave’ technology, as routinely used in noise-cancelling headphones, before moving onto the use of wave-particle duality as an approach towards channelling heat through finely tuned structures. This, she argued, could lead to the development of heat diodes. Some prototypes already exist. Mitchener also showed delegates the first video of heat being transferred through an object. “Now we can see what we previously could not see,” she concluded. “What shall we do with it?”
Diana Fisler, Johns Manville then asked delegates ‘Do we want to use as much insulation as possible?’ The answer ‘correctly’ given by delegates was ‘no,’ as many applications, such as building construction, do not gain from using thinner or more efficient materials, especially in Fisler’s native North America. Fisler outlined the existing problems with high-end products, like vacuum insulation panels (VIPs), which suffer in terms of cost and handling characteristics in many low-cost applications. Meanwhile, they have carved out a niche in appliances and cold storage boxes, where cost is less important and thin, highly insulating materials are valued more highly. Fisler identified some areas, including in space constrained high-rise cities, where high-performance insulation can save developers money. It is often the case, Fisler noted, that applications where low lambda insulation materials can provide good returns on investment are not immediately obvious.
Now the conference programme moved to advances in production technology led by a presentation by Roland Oberhoffer and Alexander Müller, Sumteq on their new method to produce sub-microcellular polystyrene foams. Sumteq is a start-up spun-off from the University of Cologne in 2014. Sumteq targeted medium density foams with lower cell sizes for its sub-micron polymer foam in order to avoid the Knudsen effect. Their method uses polymer modification/solvent-gelation to allow better large-scale production, reducing the requirements for high temperatures and long exposure times. It uses a polymer to create medium-pore foams quicker than the previous method. This has allowed them to reduce the pore size compared to conventional polystyrene foam by over 1000 down to a diameter of 0.1μm. Sumfoam, uses polystyrene as a starting polymer with a density between 50 – 200g/L which allows full recycling. Work on the upscaling process to the industrial scale has reached 15L in 2016 with a pilot plant targeted at 50 – 250L planned for 2017.
At this point the conference broke for the day with a gala dinner at the Former Customs House. This 19th Century red brick building by the Zollkanal (customs canal) in the Speicherstadt (warehouse) district of Hamburg originally processed tea, spices, coffee and tobacco. For the evening it hosted a convivial supper culminating in the announcement of the Global Insulation Awards 2016, as voted for by the insulation industry. Paroc won Insulation Company of the Year, Qubiqa were awarded Equipment Supplier of the Year, the Roxul Marshall County Plant picked up Insulation Plant of the Year, the Isover Sillatherm Fire Barrier collected the prize for Insulation Product of the Year and the Fixit/EMPA Aerogel plaster render took home the Technical Innovation of the Year award. Personality of the Year went to Diana Fisler of Johns Manville.
The following morning Novomer’s Simon Waddington commenced the second day of the conference programme by speaking on his company’s green CO2 – containing polyurethane co-polymers. The process is low temperature, with a catalyst reducing the energy required to polymerise CO2 with other monomers. As they contain around 50% CO2 by mass, Novomer’s products have clear benefits from a carbon footprint perspective, while offering comparable properties to other polyurethane foams and lower embodied energy (hence lower fire risk). Simon described the development from lab-scale to testing at the ce / de / pa full-scale testing facility in Spain, including issues around ‘post-expansion’ of the foams. Simon was able to reveal that a major insulation producer will shortly acquire the technology, with a view to taking it to the ‘next level.’ “This is no longer a concept,” he concluded.
Lionel Guizhiou from Microwave Vision Group (MVG) then described his company’s detection system for 3D defects in glass and mineral wool. The technology can be used to focus on the defect, as a visible camera does. Differences in the electromagnetic signal can be used to see whether defects are wet or dry. Once this is known, selected defects may or may not be allowed into the final product, depending on the product and intended use. The system can be set to reject dry, wet or both types of defect, saving insulation producers from wasting material as scrap and increasing their margins.
For the Insulation Performance Advances Section of the programme, Roland Caps, va-Q-tec presented a thermal analysis of submicron polystyrene foams as a core material for vacuum insulation panels (VIP). His opening comment was that only a moderate vacuum would be needed for materials such as Sumfoam, allowing for a longer lifespan, a particularly desirable requirement for a product that degrades over time like VIPs. Caps and his team ran a thermal analysis of Sumfoam in air and in a vacuum, demonstrating lower (better) thermal conductivity for the white foam material for a range of densities in a vacuum. From here they then confirmed the micron-scale pore diameters via thermal measurements but concluded that the thermal conductivity in a vacuum was still too high for their requirements. So they decreased the density of the foam and added opacifiers. The black 44kg/m3 sample then achieved more of the properties they desired including small pore diameters, allowance for high gas pressure, potential long service lifespan and low density. Development continues to improve thermal conductivity and to make the foam easily evacuable. The cost of the core is believed to be low enough for VIPs but the exact figure remains unknown, as the industrial production process is still being created. Finally, Caps took pride in announcing that va-Q-tec was due to become a publicly listed company on the Frankfurt Stock Exchange on 7 October 2016.
Michael Schumm, Saint-Gobain took to the podium to present the results of the testing of switchable insulation in conjunction with ZAE Bayern. His rhetorical opening question teased the audience of insulation professionals with the statement that ‘insulation is not always good for you.’ Specifically, sometimes one may want a wall that is both insulating and conductive, depending on the temperature. The project uses the properties of glass wool to offer the lowest and highest thermal conductivity compared to organic insulation types and silica at high and low gas pressures respectively. The switchable insulation tested uses a pump to evacuate and re-ventilate the core material with hydrogen, the gas with the highest conductivity, to gain the required properties. A prototype has been tested at the Isover Test House on a south façade where over 100 switches in winter and around 250 in summer have been measured along with nearby weather station data. The switches were triggered by temperature difference. The team concluded that the energy gains in winter were 140kWh/m2/a along with a six-hour time shift allowing for thermal comfort in the evening. Additionally the setup saved 5kWh/m2/a in electrical cooling energy in the summer, while offering the additional benefits described. He also addressed concerns over the use of the hydrogen, which he said was present in very small quantities. Schumm said that switchable insulation wouldn’t cost much more than conventional VIPs when questioned.
Following lunch Ignacio Javier Nunez Zorriqueta, Johns Manville Europe spoke about renewable and sustainable nonwovens solutions. His starting position was to discuss changes in why and how customers pick insulation products comparing this to how consumers have changed their criteria for buying cars over the decades for attributes such as fuel economy or ecological credentials. The mainstay of this presentation flagged the development of binder chemistry from formaldehyde-based resins to formaldehyde-free polyacrylates and polyvinyl alcohol (PVOH) in the mid-1990s and on to renewable sugar-based resins (and others) since 2008.
Finally, Sabrina Huesmann, Münstermann and Marc Fricke, BASF presented the challenges both company have encountered taking the production of polyurethane-based aerogel panels from the laboratory to pilot scale. Fricke brought along to the talk what he said was the largest aerogel panel one can handle to the delight of the audience. Some of the headline advantages of BASF’s Slentite panel are a low lambda value at 17mW/mK, a slim panel, high compression strength and good moisture regulation. A pilot plant was set up at Lemfoerde, Germany in 2015 with finalisation of the production concept slated for 2017 and eventual industrial production planned for 2020. Huesmann then described Münstermann’s relationship with BASF since 1997 leading to work on the Slentite project in 2011. Proposals for a pilot plant and a full-size production line were originally proposed in 2012 before BASF revised its concept for the pilot plant process leading to a rethink. Münstermann stayed on the project to eventually propose a new pilot plant that was commissioned at Lemfoerde. Since then a budgetary offer for a concept for a bulk production line has been accepted by BASF, which is now entering the market preparation phase.
The conference concluded with awards given to the best presentations from the programme as voted for by the audience. Michael Schumm picked up first place, followed by Roland Oberhoffer and Alexander Müller in second and Grazyna Mitchener in third place.
The 12th Global Insulation Conference will take place in Krakow, Poland in September 2017.
Global Insulation 2018 review
Global Insulation Conference & Exhibition 2018
25 - 26 September 2018, Vienna, Austria
The 13th Global Insulation Conference has taken place in Vienna, with 160 delegates, 21 exhibitors, 17 presentations and the Global Insulation Awards Gala Dinner at the Palais Pallavicini. The 14th Global Insulation Conference will take place in September 2019, at a location to be announced.
View the conference image gallery
The conference was started by Martin Wiesweg of IHS Markit, who gave an overview of European and global insulation trends. He pointed out that Europe is growing economically quite well, apart from Italy, and is growing at a steady rate, post-crisis, of about 3%, while Asia and the US are both growing strongly. Supply-side risks are currently supporting the oil price, with a recent record oil price of $81/barrel during the conference. Venezuela and Libya have dropped oil production, while sanctions on Iran will also take supply off international markets. Gulf producers will increase production to take advantage, while the US is expected to increase production through full utilisation of already-installed fracking rigs. Martin suggested that the oil price is likely to be maintained at its current level for the foreseeable future. He pointed out that EPS and XPS have around 32% of the market for insulation materials in Europe. New styrene monomer production capacity is coming on stream in the next few years, but prices are expected to remain more or less steady. Global EPS production capacity is much higher than demand, leading to very low profitability in the sector. Insulation markets are only now, in 2018, gaining back the size that they had prior to the global financial crisis starting in 2007.
Andreas Guertler of the European Industrial Insulation Foundation started his presentation by reminding delegates that insulation is by far the best way to increase energy efficiency and to reduce environmental impact and anthropogenic global warming. The EiiF has a mission to promote industrial insulation in Europe and has 60 insulation-producing members in the region. The foundation undertakes audits of industrial plants and components and is able to assess the payback time for the use of insulation, which is on average less than two years and is commonly less than 12 months. An Ecofys study showed that Europe could save 620pJ (equivalent to the annual energy use of the Netherlands) by effectively insulating its industrial plants. The EiiF is now promoting a 'do it yourself' inspection, so that anyone can assess their insulation needs, even if they are not 'qualified or interested' in insulation.
Edmar Meuwissen of the EUMEPS European EPS association introduced a multi-criteria comparison of insulation materials given by Daniel Savi of Büro für Umweltchemie. Edmar reminded delegates that EPS was one of the first materials that was subject to life cycle analysis, leading to the award of environmental product declarations (EPDs) which look at the environmental impact of all aspects of the production and use of a product. Edmar suggested that this environmental information will in future be included in building information modeling (BIM) systems. Daniel then suggested that radar/spider graphs can be used to more effectively compare multiple criteria, even though charts may be more demanding to read than a single number, and different observers may come to different conclusions when viewing the same graph. The criteria used as ‘good’ in the spider graphs for insulation were low embodied energy, low global warming potential, low summer smog potential, low acid rain potential, low investment cost, application suitability, low potential risk and energy saved by recovery. The upshot of his study was that different insulation materials are suited to different applications.
Stephen Long of EUMEPS next spoke about the crucial topic of the circular economy for insulation materials in Europe. "The transition to a more circular economy, where the value of products, materials and resources is maintained in the economy for as long as possible, and the generation of waste is minimised, is an essential contribution to efforts to develop a sustainable, low-carbon, resource-efficient and competitive economy." Stephen pointed out that the EU's action plan on plastics will change the regime for plastics, away from incineration and towards real recycling (rather than any use which is a downgrade in material value). Legacy additives (such as HBCD fire retardants) may become an issue in recycling of plastics in the future. Extended producer responsibility (EPR) will certainly focus minds on the recyclability of plastic-based insulation materials that are currently being produced. Norway has a voluntary EPS collection and recycling scheme, established in 1995, which is successful and financially self-supporting. At the moment, only about 9% of EPS from construction and demolition waste streams is recycled, with 58% going to energy recovery and 32% going to landfill. Stephen showed a photograph of a mobile ETICS-recovery plant, based on a Lindner shredder. Finally, Stephen concluded, "humans are the key problem, not plastics."
Anas Nabil of Misr University of Science and Technology, Egypt, next gave an update on the current status and future trends in the Egyptian insulation industry. Local producers supply 95% of national demand, and are also export-oriented, sending product to 82 countries world-wide. The largest importers of Egyptian insulation are Kenya, Oman, India, Nigeria, the UAE and Syria.
Stephan Lang of Stuttgart University next spoke on insulation concepts for ultra-high temperature (>1200°C) energy storage units. Molten silicon and boron metals are some of the most energy-dense materials (utilising both sensible and latent heat) and these can be used to store waste-heat-derived energy, or to use negative-cost electricity from renewables when supply is greater than demand. However, these materials must be insulated so that the stored energy is not lost over time. Graphite-, zirconia-, fumed-silica-, alumina- and aerogel-based insulation were assessed for temperature stability, costs and thermal conductivity. Fumed silica board and graphite fibre mat were chosen as the most cost-effective insulation materials, but Stephan suggested that other, more cost-effective insulation materials might yet be discovered and put to work in this application.
Ben Naden of PRA World next spoke about insulating polymer foams, and how their performance can be improved through the homogenisation and reduction of the pore size of the foams. Due to the Knudsen Effect, conductivity reduces dramatically at pore sizes of less than a micron in diameter, irrespective of the gas used to fill the pores (so that air can be used instead of other more expensive gases like argon or krypton). A solidified polymerised high internal phase emulsion (PolyHIPE) based on styrenics or methacrylate can be ‘tuned’ to provide excellent insulation properties. Higher levels of surfactants can give smaller and more homogeneously-sized bubbles, however, the bubbles must be actively reduced in size through the introduction of high levels of shear energy during mixing (and surfactants can cause curing to fail). Silverson high-shear mixing gave low void diameters, while ultrasonic shear gave even lower pore sizes.
Marc Fricke and Wibke Lölsberg of BASF Performance Materials next spoke about two new insulation materials that have been launched onto the markets: Slentite organic aerogel board and Slentex. Aerogels are gels that contain air, in nano-porous matrices, which reduce convection in cells using the Knudsen Effect, and also by maximising the path for heat to be transported through the material. Slentex is an exterior-use inorganic silica-aerogel hydrophobic flexible blanket with high fire safety, and low lambda value of ≤19mW/mK. Slentite boards have thermal conductivity of 18mW/mK, for interior use, which allow water vapour to diffuse, leading to 'active climate management,' while also demonstrating high compressive strength.
Gala dinner and Global Insulation Awards 2018
The Global Insulation Awards 2018 took place at the end of the first day of the conference, at the opulent Palais Pallavicini in the heart of Imperial Vienna. The Global Insulation Company of the Year was Knauf Insulation, and Supplier of the Year was Qubiqa. The ‘plant of the year’ was Isobasalt of Austria. The ‘product of the year’ was Hardrock Multi-Fix (DD) from Rockwool, and the Technical Innovation of the Year prize went to the ‘ISOVIP’ switchable VIP (vacuum insulation panel) from ISOVER. The Global Insulation ‘personality of the year’ was awarded to Anne-Beatrice Schäfer of Johns Manville, a well-known and always cheery presence in the industry over many years.
Conference second day
On the second day of the conference, Grazyna Mitchener of PolyChemTech spoke about polymeric nanofoams - such as the Slentite polyisocyanurate-based product and the Sumteq Sumfoam polystyrene-based product. Grazyna suggested that products will be developed more quickly in the future, but that product lifetimes will be shorter as well. Varying the temperature, solvent and the supercritical liquid used for foam formation can lead to control over the pore size and shape and hence the insulation properties of the foam. Polymeric nanofoams can also exhibit a variety of other interesting characteristics, including transparency/translucency, flexibility and light weight. Cellulose-, gliadin- (wheat protein), apple-pectin-, or chitin-based nano-foams demonstrate insulation properties and due to their biological origins are highly sustainable. Recyclability is a challenge for current nanofoams, while fire-resistance is also currently an issue.
Henrik Raunkjaer of Tentoma A/S next spoke on the reduction of the environmental impact of the insulation packaging process. Packaging is required to convey the product to the customer without damage, while simultaneously compressing the product to reduce transport costs. Henrik pointed out that a shrink wrap applies too much plastic to the product and shrinks it down to the size of the product, while a stretch-wrap machine applies too little plastic to the product, stretches it and allows the plastic to reduce back to its 'normal' size. Stretch film and equipment costs are slightly higher than for shrink-wrap, but due to using less plastic and not requiring an oven to shrink the plastic, the total cost is lower (while allowing a higher line speed and smarter branding).
Flavia Almeida, from va-Q-Tec, pointed out at the start of her presentation on sub-micron pore size polystyrene foams that only aerogel and VIPs are considered as ‘high-performance’ insulation, with very low lambda values, allowing the use of slimmer insulation to provide the same U-value. Reducing the pore size and/or the gas pressure in the individual pores in a foam will increase its insulation value. Flavia introduced the SumFoam product, which is a sub-micron-pore-size polystyrene foam with open porosity, low density and lower production costs than aerogels. The material can be used as a core material in VIPs, as a component in insulating plaster and for other technical insulation.
Sabrina Huesmann and Christian Raestrup of Münstermann next spoke about the design of curing ovens for glass and stone wool. Christian gave details of a case study in Scandinavia, which requested the capability of drying both high- and low-density materials, of varying thicknesses and widths: Münstermann was tasked with designing an oven to accomplish the task. Sabrina suggested that the first step is to test prospective samples in the company's test rigs. Each mineral wool sample will have a signature response to a curing airflow in terms of resistance. Sabrina pointed out that a curing oven will have a series of chambers where airflow and temperature can be individually set, to ensure that curing set-points are achieved throughout the thickness of a product, while reducing energy consumption to as low a level as possible.
Stefan Krause of ISE next spoke on 'FiberVIP,' a high-density, thin, cost-efficient vacuum-insulated glass fibre VIP for various applications. Glass fibre core VIPs demonstrate good insulation levels, but have previously had only limited service life. Stefan described a project to develop an innovative glass fibre core with a modified foil envelope, in order to increase service life. The objective was the reduction of the rise of inner pressure due to internal gas and water release caused by the glass fibre core and to generate a 'getter effect' (ability to absorb humidity) of the fibres due to a special chemical treatment. Borate-, alkali-silicate- and other borosilicate-glasses were investigated for the production of the glass fibres, while new foil concepts were developed, in order to reduce the gas permeability of the envelope. Preliminary measurements suggest future success.
Nurten Göz of Isidem Insulation, Turkey, next spoke about indirect testing methods for fire testing of insulation materials. Nurten pointed out that the fire response classification in Europe is bewilderingly complicated, despite efforts to streamline and rationalise the systems over many years. Responses of insulation to heat include flammability, heat release, droplet formation and smoke generation, which will vary independently for a variety of materials.
Alexander Frenzl of Netzsch-Gerätebau gave the penultimate presentation at the Conference, on quality control of insulation materials. Alexander outlined the operation of the Netzsch automatic heat flow meters, which can calculate and report the thermal conductivity of insulation materials.
Mark Brims of BSC Electronics Pty Ltd finally spoke about the practical results of measuring fibre diameter (for example mineral wool fibres) using the Diamscope instrument. In the instrument, a custom optical system captures and analyses images of fibres dispersed in water using a powerful LED strobe using light pulses a few microseconds long. A careful analysis of fibre diameter data can allow the optimisation of production and/or product performance.
Farewells and prizes
At the final Farewell Party, a number of awards were presented. Grenzebach and Netzsch were awarded a joint prize for the best exhibition stand. Peter Görtz of Kaibel & Sieber and Katherine Ratlif of Stepan were the most influential users of the Slido system for conference questions. Grazyna Mitchener of PolyChemTech was awarded third place in the ‘best awards’ prizes, with Alexander Frenzl of Netzsch in second place. The prize for best presentation went to Flavia Almeida of va-Q-tec for her paper on sub-micron-pore-size polystyrene foams.
The conference was voted the best-ever Global Insulation Conference, based on quantitative analysis of delegate questionnaire responses. The 14th Global Insulation Conference will take place in September 2019 at a location yet-to-be-announced.
Delegate comments 2018:
- Excellent gala dinner - I hope to attend the conference next year too.
- Congratulations to the organising team. [You] really made us feel comfortable and welcome.
- The event was smoothly organised and just the right size and duration.
- It was nice to get connected to the key players in the insulation industry.
- The networking was outstanding.
- Very good mix of presentations.
- Thanks for the great organisation!!
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