Insulation industry news from Global Insulation

US: Rockwool has officially broken ground at a new stone wool in Ranson, Jefferson County in West Virginia. Once completed it will be the company’s second stone wool plant in the country. The project has had an investment of over US$150m and it will employ around 150 people when it opens. The unit is expected to open in the first quarter of 2020. It will manufacture a full range of Rockwool stone wool insulation products.

“Solid customer demand and strong market growth in the US and elsewhere reflects the reality that people are increasingly discovering the quality and advantages of our stone wool solutions. This is our second factory in the United States, which positions us well for future growth,” said Jen s Birgersson, president and chief executive officer (CEO) of Rockwool Group.

France: Two workers have been seriously injured by an explosion at Soprema’s Saint-Julien-du-Sault polyurethane insulation plant in Yonne. A third worker was also injured in the accident, according to Le Monde newspaper. An external company was carrying out work at the site when the incident occurred. Sparks from a grinder are believed to have caused a holding tank to explode.

France: Knauf Insulation plans to invest Euro110m towards building a new rock wool plant at Illange in Moselle. The plant will have a production capacity of 0.11Mt/yr and it is scheduled to start operation at the end of 2019. Insulation produced at the site will be targeted at markets in France and Germany. The new plant is expected to create 120 jobs.

Germany: Va-Q-Tec has nearly completed the expansion of its Kölleda plant in Thuringia. A new second plant at its Kölleda site has increased the production area by 3000m2 and created additional space for storage, laboratories and offices. Production capacity at the site will be tripled following the upgrade. Va-Q-Tec manufactures vacuum isolation panels at Kölleda for use in pharmalogistics, cooling units and in the construction industry for thermal isolation or cold chain logistics. The expansion is expected to be completed in June 2018.

Turkey: Austria’s Austrotherm has opened a 400,000m³/yr expanded polystyrene (EPS) plant in Ankara. It is its third insulation plant in the country. The project cost Euro2m. The site has created 14 jobs. The company entered the Turkish market in 2008 and built its second plant near Izmir in 2013.

Poland: Paroc Group says that its Euro60m expansion project at its Trzemeszno plant is proceeding to plan. A new 70,000t/yr stone wool production line is being built at the site. The upgrade is expected to be completed in 2019. The upgrade is part of Paroc’s plan to support its growth strategy for Central and Western Europe.

Italy: Ursa has launched a new extruded polystyrene (XPS) panel product called Ursa Maior. The insulation producer says that the product, Ursa Maior S27P, is the first and only extruded polystyrene thermal insulation panel that combines a thermal conductivity rate of 0.027W/mK with high compressive strength of 300kPa. Other features include water resistance and resilience to freeze and thaw cycles. It is being produced at Ursa’s Bondeno plant.

Romania: Saint-Gobain Isover is upgrading its Ploiesti mineral wool plant. A modernisation and extension project of its stone wool production line is scheduled to start operation in the second half of 2019. The upgrade will increase the plant’s production capacity to 30,000t/yr and extend its range of products for the Romanian market and neighbouring countries.

Saint-Gobain Isover has run operations on its Ploiesti site since 1997, with a glass wool line currently being modernised and due to start up in July 2018, and a stone wool line.

Hungary: Belgium’s Ravago and Turkeyʼs Beşler Tekstil plant to build a Euro20.5m insulation plant at Alsózsolca. The plant will have a production capacity of 36,000t/yr, according to the Budapest Business Journal. The government is aiding the project with a contribution of just under Euro4m. Once operational the plant is expected to export third-thirds of its output internationally. The unit will also create 90 jobs.

Ravago is a Belgium plastics manufacturer with operations in over 55 countries. Beşler Tekstil is a Turkish textiles producer.

Sweden: Kingspan to build a new plant near Jönköping to produce products in its Kooltherm phenolic insulation range. Work on the project is scheduled to start immediately and the unit is expected to be operational by the second half of 2019. The plant will initially employ around 20 people and this will grow to up to 80 people once the site is fully operational. The new plant is intended to take advantage of demand for Kooltherm products in Sweden, Denmark and other countries in Scandinavia and the Baltics.

“Kooltherm is the cornerstone of our growth strategy in all these markets, and having this new facility will help to meet the increasing demand for our products,” said Henk Bessie, Managing Director of Kingspan Insulation Continental Europe.