Insulation industry news from Global Insulation

Germany: BASF is set to expand production of its Neopor graphite-enriched expanded polystyrene (EPS) at its Ludwigshafen plant in Rhineland-Palatinate by 50,000t/yr. From its commissioning in 2027, the expanded line will help BASF to meet increased demand for the material. Neopor serves as raw granulate for use in the production of insulation materials for building envelopes. The company says that it offers a 30% greater heat retention than traditional EPS.

Director Stephan Kothrade said "Neopor is classified as a 'Pioneer' in the highest category of the Sustainable Solution Steering (Triple-S) sustainability assessment which BASF uses to evaluate all its products, and is part of BASF's Sustainable Future Solutions."

Germany: Chemicals producer BASF has partnered with RAMPF Eco Solutions, Poland-based Remondis Electrorecycling and engineering company KraussMaffei to develop depolymerisation techniques to produce polyol from waste polyurethane (PU) fridge insulation, as an alternative to natural hydrocarbons. The recovered polyol could then be used as a raw material in PU insulation production.

BASF said "This innovative process is particularly challenging because it has to be very robust in order to reliably convert post-consumer waste with high levels of foreign substances into a high-quality recycled polyol.”

Waste fridge insulation's only current use is as an alternative fuel by the energy sector.

India: Germany-based chemicals producer BASF has broken ground on its construction of a polyurethane (PU) application development laboratory in Mumbai, Maharashtra. From its inauguration in 2024, the laboratory will offer customer support services including customised formulations, line trials and training sessions PU industry partners, including insulation producers. In this, it will support the work of BASF’s existing Creation Center at its Mumbai Innovation Campus.

BASF’s senior vice president, performance materials Asia Pacific, Andy Postlethwaite said “As a part of the global innovation network, the lab will enable global and regional BASF teams to work closely with local customers in testing and formulation optimisation. BASF has been providing technical services to customers, enabling the co-creation of innovative product solutions with its high-performance materials. With our strength in innovation and comprehensive range of high-quality solutions, we help our customers meet increasingly stringent regulatory standards and optimise product properties for their specific needs at an early stage.”

Germany: BASF has launched Neopor Mcycled expandable polystyrene (EPS) granulate, an EPS insulation raw material containing 10% recycled EPS waste. Building materials producer Karl Bachl collaborated in the product’s development.

Karl Bachl Managing Director Michael Küblbeck said “Today’s EPS insulation materials from the construction and packaging sectors can be fully recycled. At present, the high-quality recycled material is mainly sourced from waste streams from the packaging sector. That means we can already ensure that the recycled material is of the necessary high quality.”

US: The chief executive officers (CEO) of 13 US companies, including BASF and DuPont, are lobbying the President and Congress to enact business-led climate change legislation. This initiative, known as the CEO Climate Dialogue, urges the government to put in place a long-term federal policy as soon as possible, in accordance with a set of six guiding principles. The group aims to build bipartisan support for climate policies that it says will, “… increase regulatory and business certainty, reduce climate risk, and spur investment and innovation needed to meet science-based emissions reduction targets.”

Companies involved in the CEO Dialogue include BASF, BP, Citi, Dominion Energy, Dow, DTE Energy, DuPont, Exelon, Ford Motor Company, LafargeHolcim, PG&E, Shell, and Unilever. Four environmental groups have also supplied input to the initiative. These are the Center for Climate and Energy Solutions, Environmental Defense Fund, the Nature Conservancy and World Resources Institute.

The six principles include: ‘significantly’ reducing US greenhouse gas emissions; allowing an effective timeline for reductions that will enable capital intensive industries to adjust in an ‘economically rational manner’; instituting a market-based price on carbon; making the policies durable and responsible; doing no harm to the competitiveness of the US economy with particular attention to carbon leakage; and promoting equity. Specifically the initiative says that US policy should ensure the country is on a path to achieve economy-wide emissions reductions of 80% or more by 2050 with ‘aggressive’ short and medium term emissions reductions.

“DuPont is pleased to be part of the CEO Climate Dialogue and support its guiding principles to accelerate the development of federal policy on climate change. At DuPont, our science and innovation is inextricably linked with sustainability practices that deliver specialised materials that contribute to a safer, healthier, more sustainable world. We believe strong, consistent policy measures and a cohesive regulatory environment are needed to accelerate the transition to a low-carbon economy and foster innovation, investment and economic growth,” said Marc Doyle, CEO-Elect of DuPont.

US: Germany’s BASF plans to launch the second phase of its methylene diphenyl diisocyanate (MDI) unit at its Verbund plant in Geismar, Louisiana. The first phase of the upgrade was set to double the company’s MDI production capacity to nearly 0.6Mt/yr from 0.3Mt/yr. The new US$87m investment will continue this process. Construction is expected to start in late 2019 with completion scheduled for 2021.

“With the development of the American market, BASF needs this investment to support the growth of our existing customers,” said BASF Senior Vice President Stefan Doerr. “The Geismar site is ideally suited for this investment thanks to the existing infrastructure, competitive raw materials and favourable business support from state and local governments. This investment also demonstrates our strong commitment to our employees, our community and our presence in Louisiana.”

Cambodia: Germany’s BASF has started its own local subsidiary to sell its own products directly. It had been working through local distribution partners since 2014, according to the Phnom Penh Post newspaper. The company will market its performance materials products including polyurethane insulation. Other products it will bring to market include monomers and intermediates, nutrition and health and agricultural offerings.

Germany: BASF is developing a pilot project to make insulation panels from plastics waste as part of its ChemCycling project. The company is making ethylene and propylene from the waste to use as raw material for further chemical manufacturing. Other projects the company is testing using waste plastics with include mozzarella packaging and refrigerator components.

“With our ChemCycling project, we are using plastic waste as a resource. In this way, we create value for the environment, society and the economy. We have joined forces with partners throughout the value chain to establish a working circular model,” said Martin Brudermüller, chairman of the board of executive directors and chief technology officer of BASF.

BASF feeds oil derived from plastic waste by an oiling process into the Production Verbund process. BASF gets this feedstock for the pilot products from Recenso in Germany. As an alternative, syngas made from plastic waste can also be used. The first batch of this oil was fed into the steam cracker at BASF’s site in Ludwigshafen in October 2018. The steam cracker is the starting point for Verbund production. It breaks down or ‘cracks’ this raw material at temperatures of around 850°C. The primary outputs of the process are ethylene and propylene. Under the mass balance approach, the share of recycled raw material can be mathematically allocated to the final certified product. Each customer can select the allocated percentage of recycled material.

BASF is working with its customers and partners, which range from waste management companies to technology providers and packaging producers, to build a circular value chain. Its next step is to make the first products from the ChemCycling project commercially available. However, technological and regulatory conditions need to be met on a regional basis before the project is market-ready.

Germany: BASF’s Performance Products division’s sales fell by 5% year-on-year to Euro7.94bn in the first half of 2018 from Euro8.4bn in the same period in 2017. Its earnings before interest and taxation (EBIT) fell by 41% to Euro879m from Euro920m. The company blamed the falling sales and earnings on negative currency effects as well as reduced sales volumes from its Nutrition & Health division. The chemical producer manufactures polyurethane-based insulation foams as part of its Performance Products division. Overall, BASF’s sales and its EBIT grew in the reporting period.

US: Germany’s BASF plans to start building a methylene diphenyl diisocyanate (MDI) synthesis unit at its Verbund plant in Geismar, Louisiana in the second quarter of 2018. Planning and engineering for the new unit started in 2016 and were recently completed. The upgrade is expected to double the company’s MDI production capacity to nearly 0.6Mt/yr from 0.3Mt/yr. The investment is planned to support the growth of BASF’s North American business.