Insulation industry news from Global Insulation

China: BASF has blamed ‘force majeure’ for a disruption to the production of methylene diphenyl diisocyanate (MDI) at its Chongqing plant due to a supply shortage of natural gas from its syngas supplier. BASF says it is unable to determine when it will be able to resume production as its syngas supplier has been unable to tell it when the input will be restored. The German-headquartered chemical multinational uses MDI to manufacture a number of products including insulation.

Germany: BASF has launched an updated version of its Elastospray LWP spray foam insulation. The product has been changed to respond to European Union (EU) plans to reduce fluorinated gas emission by two-thirds by 2030. Hydrofluorocarbon blowing agents in the product have been replaced with more environmentally friendly alternatives.

Germany: BASF has adopted the voluntary Keymark certification scheme for its Styrodur insulation boards made from extruded polystyrene (XPS). The decision follows the decision by the German government to drop the Ü mark for harmonised building products in late 2016. BASF has decided to use Keymark scheme to show that the product has been approved for use in Germany. It is a voluntary product certification awarded by Din Certco, a TÜV Rhineland company in cooperation with the German Institute for Standardisation (DIN).

Belgium: BASF has increased the methylene diphenyl diisocyanate (MDI) production capacity to 0.65Mt/yr from 0.56Mt/yr at its Verbund plant in Antwerp. MDI is used to manufacture polyurethanes, which are used in insulation production and other materials.

Germany: BASF has developed a new technology for welding insulation boards. The contactless, thermal welding process makes it possible to combine a variety of insulation materials. For example, Styrodur, an extruded rigid polystyrene foam from BASF, can be combined with polyurethane, inorganic insulation materials, or the melamine resin foam Basotect to form completely new insulation material solutions.

BASF ‘s Styrodur portfolio includes new, thick boards made using this process in the highly compression-proof varieties Styrodur 4000 CS and 5000 CS. The boards cover the thickness range from 60mm to 240mm with a consistently good insulation value (lambda = 0.035W/mK).

China: BASF has adopted a polymeric flame retardant for Neopor in China. It has replaced the flame retardant hexabromo­cyclododecane (HBCD) with PolyFR in its white expandable polystyrene insulation product.

“There is a greater need than ever for energy efficiency in the commercial and residential construction sectors, and EPS insulation materials like Neopor have the right properties to serve this need. Additionally, with the switch to PolyFR, we are now ensuring that the thermal insulation products are suitable for a wide range of sustainable building projects in the future. These high-quality materials can help developers address the increasing market requirements for energy efficient living and working spaces while ensuring regulatory compliance,” said Giorgio Greening, Senior Vice President of BASF’s global styrene foams business unit.

PolyFR is already used as an effective flame retardant in BASF’s portfolio of polystyrene-based insulation materials worldwide, including the Neopor range used in Europe, North America and China. As the first manufacturer in Europe and the first in Korea to switch entirely to PolyFR, BASF is now the first to do so in China.

China: BASF has begun trial operations at its mononitrobenzene plant within the integrated 400,000t methylene diphenyl diisocyanate (MDI) complex in Chongqing, China. This MDI site covers an area of more than 50 hectares, including facilities of 400,000t/yr of Mononitrobenzene, 300,000t/yr of aniline, 400,000t/yr of crude MDI, and an MDI splitter with a capacity of 400,000t/yr. Mononitrobenzene is a precursor for the production of MDI, a component for polyurethanes.

India: BASF has unveiled its largest construction chemicals plant in Nellore, Andhra Pradesh. This is BASF's fifth construction chemicals plant in the country.

With its state-of-the-art technology and its strategic location close to regional growth centres, the plant will enable BASF to respond in a timely fashion to customers' needs in the southern part of India and to support them with high-performance solutions in the highly-competitive market.

"With the new plant at Nellore, BASF offers a comprehensive range of solutions to help construct buildings that are more energy-efficient, durable and require fewer resources for maintenance," said Ralf Spettmann, president of construction chemicals at BASF.

Germany: Germany's BASF has switched its entire polystyrene-based insulation product portfolio for the European market to the new polymeric flame retardant (PolyFR). The change comes nine months ahead of the deadline laid out in the REACH regulation, which forbids the use of hexabromocyclododecane (HBCD) as a flame retardant as of 21 August 2015. This means BASF's 'Styropor' and 'Neopor' Expanded Polystyrene (EPS) and its 'Styrodur' extruded polystyrene (XPS) are only available with PolyFR from now on.

"By switching to PolyFR we can guarantee the supply of eco-efficient thermal insulation products for sustainable building projects in the future," said Giorgio Greening of the group's Styrenic Foams business unit. Using PolyFR allows producers to manufacture insulation materials that meet Class E under European standards.

To meet rising global demand for PolyFR, which has a better environmental profile than HBCD, a number of producers have set up new production plants, including the recent announcement by Albemarle and Israel Chemicals (ICL) to set up a PolyFR joint venture.

Denmark: Danish insulations materials producer Rockwool International has agreed to acquire BASF Wall Systems, which is owned by the BASF Group. The group's German subsidiary Deutsche Rockwool will acquire all of the German external façade insulation producer including a factory in Marktredwitz and the HECK MultiTherm and Rajasil brands.

"This is a major leap forward for the Rockwool Group's strategy of offering customers more complete solutions consisting not only of insulation but also all the other necessary elements of a total facade system such as paint, render, etc. The BASF Wall Systems business is in this respect a great asset," said division managing director of the Rockwool Group's Europe division, Henrik Frank Nielsen. He added that purchase enhances the group's façade strategy and gives it a 'significant' foothold in the German External Thermal Insulation Composite Systems (ETICS) market.

Rockwool declined to comment on the value of the deal, saying that the deal was too small to have any impact on the buyer's valuation. The transaction is expected to be completed by the end of 2013. BASF Wall Systems had a turnover of Euro68m in 2012 and it had 190 employees.