Insulation industry news from Global Insulation
Saint-Gobain plans US$400m investment in US expansions
11 November 2021US: Saint-Gobain plans to invest a total of US$400m in expansions to its operations including insulation operations at four US sites. The group says that the sites are located in California and the Southeastern US. It said that the new capacities will apply the most advanced available technologies for industrial performance, safety and sustainability. This will reduce waste by 50% and CO2 emissions by 20% from current levels, according to the company.
Saint-Gobain said it hopes that the investments will strengthen its leadership in North America and accelerate its growth in the region by enriching its comprehensive range of solutions for light and sustainable construction.
Angren Insulation secures US$5m loan from European Bank for Reconstruction and Development for upcoming Tashkent glasswool plant
22 October 2021Uzbekistan: The European Bank for Reconstruction and Development has issued a US$5m loan to Ecoclimat Group for the launch of a new subsidiary, Angren Insulation. The company will use the loan to build a 32,000t/yr glasswool plant in Tashkent. The plant will use recycled glass as an input and reduce the group’s CO2 emissions by 85,000t/yr. The insulation producer said that it will help it to meet the growing local demand for mineral-based insulation.
Rockwool to install new line at Vyborg insulation plant
21 October 2021Russia: Rockwool plans to install a new mineral wool production line at its Vyborg insulation plant in Leningrad oblast. The producer says that the expanded plant will have 50% lower CO2 emissions than before the expansion due to an efficiency increasing upgrade to its melting technology.
Rockwool plans to invest Euro200m in expansions and efficiency improving upgrades in Russia ‘in the coming years,’ creating 70 new jobs.
Denmark: Rockwool has signed a new revolving credit facility worth Euro600m. The facility replaced its existing facilities and has a built-in pricing mechanism connecting its costs to three externally-assured sustainability goals. The goals are CO2 emission reduction, increasing the number of countries in which it offers its recycling schemes and reducing factory waste. The purposes of the facility are to strengthen capital structure and support long-term growth.
Chief Financial Officer Kim Junge Andersen said, “While we already are a net-carbon-negative company, we have committed ourselves to ambitious sustainability targets to reduce our carbon footprint and waste from operations and to expand our recycling offerings. To measure our progress, it is important for us to have a fact-based and auditable approach to how we maximise our products’ positive impact while minimising the environmental impact of our operations.”
Kingspan publishes 2021 first quarter trading statement and inaugural Planet Passionate sustainability report
19 April 2021Ireland: Kingspan’s consolidated net sales increased by 24% year-on-year in the first quarter of 2021 to Euro1.28bn. Insulated panels sales grew by 25% having started the year with a strong order backlog and insulation boards grew 12%. Communications company Edison Group said that growth was most pronounced in Germany, France and Benelux and Latin America, with a strong order intake in North America and the UK. Net debt at 31 March 2021 was Euro352m.
The company noted increasing inflationary pressure and challenges regarding availability despite strong demand and a strong backlog. As such, it has given no guidance for the year.
Kingspan highlighted its inaugural Planet Passionate sustainability report. The report details the company’s achievements in the first year of its 2019 10-year sustainability strategy. In 2020, the producer achieved net-zero energy and cut CO2 emissions by 5% year-on-year. It issued a Euro750m green private placement in September 2020. The company called the major achievements the ‘first leg’ of its decarbonisation journey. In its latest report, it set the target of net-zero CO2 emissions by 2030. Additionally, it is aiming to halve CO2 intensity over the same period. Altogether, Planet Passionate covers 12 sustainability targets across the key areas of energy, circularity, CO2 and water.
Chief executive officer Gene Murtagh said “Our Planet Passionate targets demand radical thinking and action. Our aim is to get as close to zero emissions in our manufacturing as technically possible by transforming our processes. Industry has a vital role to play in addressing the threat of climate change.” He added that the group target of 50% primary raw materials CO2 intensity reduction “will also lower the embodied carbon in our products, and consequently the whole life carbon of buildings.”
Rockwool publishes Sustainability Report 2020
18 March 2021Denmark: Rockwool has detailed its sustainability achievements for 2020 in its Sustainability Reports 2020. During the year, assessment agency S&P Trucost certified all of Rockwool’s products as ‘positively impactful’ in line with the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). The company said that its insulation sold in 2020 saved 874,000GWh of heating energy. It said that the lifetime CO2 emissions savings of its products are more than 100 times greater than their production emissions. It halved its production waste going to landfill compared to 2019, against reduction targets of 40% by 2022 and 85%. It achieved another of its interim sustainability goals early by increasing water efficiency by 10%, against a targeted 10% by 2022 and 20% by 2030.
Knauf Insulation publishes 2020 Annual Review
26 November 2020Belgium: Knauf Insulation has launched its 2020 Annual Review. Europe, Middle East and Asia management committee member Jean-Claude Carlin said, “The global pandemic has put our people and our values of challenge.create.care. firmly in the spotlight this year.”
The company said that it navigated continuous challenges by ensuring staff and customers were ’As Safe As Home.’ It implemented plans to achieve its new ‘For a Better World’ sustainability strategy under the headings ‘Putting People First,’ ’Achieving Zero Carbon,’ ’Delivering a Circular Economy’ and ’Creating Better Buildings.’ The last includes the company’s plans for a new Eco-Design tool and efforts to drive the European Commission’s ‘Renovation Wave.’ The producer also reduced carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions per cubic metre of product by 23% between 2010 and 2019.
Carlin said, “These milestones will keep our sustainability journey on track and ensure that we are all responsible for delivering success not leaving problems for the next generation. These milestones are an exciting challenge that I am confident will bring out the best in everyone. I look forward to reporting positive progress next year.”
Owens Corning publishes sustainability report 2019
28 April 2020US: In 2019 Owens Corning sourced 1.58GWh of energy renewably (49% of total consumption), down by 14% year-on-year from 1.84GWh (52% of consumption) in 2018. Direct CO2 emissions were 2.78Mt, down by 2.0% from 2.83Mt in 2018 due a reduction in carbon intensity of insulation production, such as the use of electric rather than coke-fired furnaces.
Owens Corning on global Climate Change A-List
21 January 2020UK: Global not-for-profit organisation CDP has included Owens Corning on its Climate Change A-List 2019 for environmental transparency and performance aimed at facilitating a zero-net carbon economy. Only a handful of industrial producers achieved inclusion on the list, including France-based Saint-Gobain and Germany-based HeidelbergCement and steel producer Thyssenkrupp.
Researchers turn CO2 into polyurethane precursor
18 October 2019China/Japan: Researchers from Kyoto University, the University of Tokyo in Japan and Jiangsu Normal University in China have developed a new material that can selectively capture carbon dioxide (CO2) molecules and convert them into ‘useful’ organic materials, including a precursor for polyurethane. The research project has been described in the journal Nature Communications.
The material is a porous coordination polymer (PCP, also known as a metal-organic framework), a framework consisting of zinc metal ions. The researchers tested their material using X-ray structural analysis and found that it can selectively capture only CO2 molecules with ten times more efficiency than other PCPs. The material has an organic component with a propeller-like molecular structure, and as CO2 molecules approach the structure, they rotate and rearrange to permit CO2 trapping, resulting in slight changes to the molecular channels within the PCP. This allows it to act as molecular sieve that can recognise molecules by size and shape. The PCP is also recyclable; the efficiency of the catalyst did not decrease even after 10 reaction cycles.
After capturing the carbon, the converted material can be used to make polyurethane, a material with a wide variety of applications including insulation materials.