Insulation industry news from Global Insulation

UAE: Pearl Polyurethane has newly appointed Oliver Bruns, Michael Friede and Wilhelm Lamberts to its board. Chemical Industry Digest News has reported that the new board members’ experience collectively spans various sectors and industries, bringing broad and deep expertise to the polyurethane (PUR) producer’s strategic guidance and oversight as it expands internationally and into new verticals.

Bruns has over 10 years’ PUR industry experience with Germany-based Bayer AG and Covestro, formerly known as Bayer MaterialScience. This included a role as managing director of Bayer’s Czech Republic-based PUR system house for Eastern Europe. Bruns currently also holds a full-time CEO position at Neveon, a leading global integrated foam group that supplies PUR flexible and composite foams for a wide range of applications.

Friede started his career at Bayer AG in 2001 and held various senior executive roles at Bayer MaterialScience and then Covestro, including global head of coatings, adhesives and specialities. He then moved to Netherlands-based AkzoNobel, where he worked as chief commercial officer (CCO) of performance coatings.

Lamberts’ career also spans multiple executive roles at Bayer AG and Covestro, most recently as the former’s strategy project manager and senior vice president, head of elastometers and the latter’s innovation project manager.

China: Bayer MaterialScience intends to increase MDI production from 0.35Mt/yr to 0.50Mt/yr by the middle of 2014, according to polymer news website Gupta Verlag. De-bottlenecking will take place at the polymer manufacturer's MDI production facility at the Bayer Integrated Site Shanghai in Caojing, Shanghai.

"MDI is an important raw material for the production of polyurethane rigid foam, which is an effective insulation material for buildings and refrigerators. The de-bottlenecking will allow the company to further expand its business in China, which is one of the largest markets in the world for Bayer MaterialScience," said Wolfgang Miebach, President of Bayer MaterialScience China.