Insulation industry news from Global Insulation

Russia: TechnoNicol has completed the construction of a mineral wool plant in the Rostov region. The plant is currently undergoing commissioning and testing with operation planned for mid-July 2016. The company has invested Euro44m into the site. Once operational the plant will be able to produce six groups of products, including more than 90 types of basalt-based thermal insulation products.

The roofing and insulation producer has also announced that it intends to build a Euro44m mineral wool plant in Kazakhstan. Irek Allayarov, director of the company’s mineral isolation department, said that the company is in the process of selecting potential sites for the unit. A final decision will be made by the end of 2016.

Kazakhstan: An insulation plant caught fire in Utegen Batir Village, Ili on 21 September 2015. Seven vehicles and 35 firefighters responded to combat the fire, which, according to preliminary data, encompassed a 1800m² area.

Kazakhstan/China/Russia: Russia's TechnoNicol will invest Euro12.4m to build a 300,000m²/yr capacity extruded polystyrene foam (XPS) insulation plant in the Karaganda Region of Kazakhstan. The plant will start production in 2016. Its products will be supplied to all regions of Kazakhstan and south Asia.

Kazakhstan: A new Vodokanalstroy Company mineral wool plant has started operation in the city of Karaganda in Karaganda region as part of the Business Roadmap-2020 programme.

The executive director of the company, Mikhail Lashkov, said, "The project cost USD11.2m. The sources of financing were our own funds, accounting for USD7.6m and a loan of USD3.7m borrowed at an interest rate of 7%/yr."

According to Lashkov, the production capacity of the plant is 85,000m3/yr of thermal insulation material. "The main product of the plant are mineral wool slabs with Misot synthetic binding agent," he added. The raw materials for the products are sourced from ArcelorMittal Temirtau.

"There is a huge demand for heat insulation materials in Kazakhstan and 85% of such products are imported. Now the imports can be reduced," said Lashkov.

Kazakhstan: Ecostroyservice JSC has commissioned a manufacturing line to produce a wide range of insulating concrete products in the Karaganda region of central Kazakhstan. The total investment in the project will be USD1.6m design production capacity is 36,000m³/yr.

"The positive feature of these building materials is low heat conductivity," said Ecostroyservice's Serik Akhmetov at the plant's launch. "Production of special heat insulation materials will allow heat losses to be reduced by 10-20 times," he added.