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.

China: Javier Gimeno, head of Saint-Gobain’s business in Asia-Pacific, has blamed production overcapacity for the company’s decision to stop manufacturing glass wool. He said that overcapacity had forced prices down and lowered margins, according to the Wall Street Journal. He added that the company is targeting profits over 10% and that it wants its business in China to grow faster than the national economy. Subsequently, the group has focused on products such as mortars, plastics and car windows. Gimeno also raised the issue of environmental regulations being stricter for foreign firms in China, although this is changing.

China: Luyang Energy-Saving Materials plans to spend US$11m towards upgrading its mineral wool insulation plant in the Yiyuan Economic Development Zone in Shandong. The upgrade will add 25,000t/yr production capacity to the plant, increasing its total output to 50,000t/yr, according to Reuters. Construction is scheduled to start in July 2017 with completion in June 2018.

Russia: EuroChem, a fertilizer producer, and China’s ChemChina have signed a memorandum at the 2017 St Petersburg International Economic Forum on the creation of a joint venture to produce chemical industrial products including isocyanates, a precursor of spray polyurethane foam insulation. The cost of the project is estimated to be US$500m, according to the Tass News Agency. The joint venture will also produce propylene oxides for the use in the development of synthetic lubricants.

The companies plan to start the collaboration by forming a working group to further evaluate the technical possibilities of the project and will carry out a financial and legal examination of the project. Once complete the first project will be an upgrade to EuroChem’s Novomoskovskiy Azot plant in the Tula region. Products from the plant will be targeted at the Russian market.

US: China’s Wanhua Chemical plans to build a US$1.1bn methylene diphenyl diisocyanate (MDI) plant in Louisiana. The chemical producer has not revealed where it intends to build the plant, what size it will be or when it plans to start construction, according to local media. It expects to choose a site later in 2017. Wanhua Chemical will contribute about US$950m towards the project and US$170m will come from an unnamed partner.

Wanhua Chemical operates two MDI plants in China. In 2011 it spent US$1.7bn when it purchased BorsodChem, a Hungarian polyurethanes manufacturer. Louisiana state officials have reportedly been discussing the project with Wanhua since 2013.

South Korea: Armacell and JIOS Aerogel (JIOS) have formed a joint venture called Armacell Jios Aerogels (AJA) to develop and manufacture silica aerogel blankets. The new company will be based in Hong Kong and South Korea, operating from Armacell’s existing manufacturing facility in Cheonan, close to Seoul.

JIOS is contributing its process technology and proprietary manufacturing know-how as well as the intellectual property. Armacell will invest an undisclosed amount into aerogel blanket production equipment, accelerate the industrialisation and certification process and provide its world-wide distribution network to market the new technology. AJA will focus on delivering solutions based on aerogel blankets to the oil and gas, marine and general industrial sectors and in particular for high temperature and cryogenic applications.

“The joint venture with JIOS provides us with access to the next generation of aerogel technology and enables us to deliver a complete portfolio of thermal and acoustic insulation solutions to the oil & gas industry,” said Patrick Mathieu, chief executive officer and president of Armacell International.

Russia: TechnoNicol has opened a Euro27.6m mineral wool insulation production plant in the Khabarovsk region. The plant will have a production capacity of 0.75Mm3, according to Prime News. The products will be sold locally and via export. The company plans to export 20% of its entire output to China in 2019. The insulation producer expects the payback period for the plant to take seven years.

China: China National Building Material Company's (CNBM) net profit has fallen by 83% year-on-year to US$157m in 2015. Its revenue fell by 17.8% to US$15.4bn. China's largest cement producer has blamed the loss of profits on a steep drop in cement sales due to a national slowdown in fixed-asset investments, infrastructure construction and real estate investments.

The state-owned building materials company also produces gypsum wallboard, insulation materials and ceiling systems. Revenue from the sale of lightweight building materials fell by 7.6% to US$1.09bn as the price of gypsum wallboard fell. However, revenue from mineral wool insulation sales and composite materials rose by 25.3% to US$501m due to increased sales of pipes, tanks and rotor blades.

China: Evonik has started building a plant to produce organically modified specialty silicones in Shanghai. The project is part of a global investment initiative that started with the construction of a first expanded production plant in Essen, Germany that became operational in late 2014. The new facility is being constructed at the Multi-User-Site (MUSC) in the Shanghai Chemical Industry Park, with completion planned for mid-2017. No exact figure for the high double-digit million Euro project was specified.

"We want to expand our specialty silicones production capacities in Asia to serve the rising demand with local production.” That is why we are enlarging our production capacities in this region," said Klaus Engel, the chairman of the Evonik Executive Board.

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.