Insulation industry news from Global Insulation

China: Chemicals producer Evonik Industries has started operations at a new 230,000t/yr capacity hydrogen peroxide plant in July 2014 in Jilin City, Jilin Province. Evonik invested more than US$139m in the site to raise its global capacity for hydrogen peroxide production to more than 900,000t/yr.

"This investment further consolidates our market leadership for hydrogen peroxide," said Klaus Engel, executive board chairman of Evonik Industries. Evonik will supply hydrogen peroxide from Jilin direct to the neighbouring propylene oxide plant run by Jishen Chemical Industry Co Ltd. Jishen will use the hydrogen peroxide to manufacture propylene oxide on the basis of the HPPO process. Propylene oxide is mainly used to make polyurethane intermediates that are used in manufacturing insulation materials for the construction and refrigeration industry.

"We are registering a great deal of demand around the world for our efficient HPPO process," said Gregor Hetzke, head of the advanced intermediates business unit at Evonik. "The Jilin plant represents another milestone on the way to establishing hydrogen peroxide as an eco-friendly oxidant for the process of chemical synthesis. The project is also proof of how we use new technologies to systematically drive forward our growth."

Evonik developed the HPPO process together with ThyssenKrupp Uhde. The new plant in Jilin is the second of its kind. The HPPO process allows the eco-friendly oxidant to also be used in the direct chemical synthesis of propylene oxide. The benefits of the new method are that it requires much lower investment costs, has high production efficiency and has excellent environmental compatibility.

Another large Evonik plant, a US$136m integrated production complex for isophorone and isophorone diamine, started trial operations in Shanghai in May 2014 and will be officially inaugurated in July 2014. The complex will have a capacity of 50,000t/yr.

"The new plant continues our successful growth story in isophorone chemistry," said Patrik Wohlhauser, executive board member and chief operating officer of Evonik Industries. "We are now represented in the three major economic zones, Europe, North America and Asia."

US: Rockwool has started production at its Marshall County, Mississippi mineral wool plant. The US$164m plant, the Danish insulation producer's first in the US, is expected to be fully operational by mid-2015. The plant will employ 150 people and produce more than 100,000t/yr for the North American market.

"The new plant will enable us to increase our sales for insulation products in the USA. We have been experiencing double-figure growth rates in the North American market over recent years and there is still considerable potential for growth in the market, which is mainly dominated by glass fibre and plastic foam products," said Trent Ogilvie, President of Roxul, Rockwool's subsidiary in North America. Over the last year the company has experienced such an increase in demand that the it has been forced to import from Europe.

China: Orient Paper Inc has commenced the final commercial production phase of its papermill 1 (PM1) renovation project, which produces insulation liner paper. PM1 has a designed production capacity of 50,000t/yr.

"We are very pleased to re-launch the renovated PM1 a few months earlier than our original schedule," said Zhenyong Liu, chairman and CEO of Orient Paper. "The purpose of our modernisation plan is not only to convert PM1 into a more energy-efficient production line, but also to produce higher profit margin products."

According to Liu, the insulation liner paper is used to sandwich certain insulation materials as a construction material for wall and floor insulation. It can also be combined with certain plastic woven cloth to manufacture new moisture-proof packaging materials for the transportation of books and magazines by the publishing industry in China. Both product applications are expected to benefit from stable market demand in the region.

UAE: Bayer Pearl, a polyurethane systems house joint venture between Bayer MaterialScience AG and Pearl Insulation Materials Industries LLC that was established in 2007, plans a significant investment including new technology and production.

Following the relocation of the regional offices and production facilities to Dubai Investment Park, Bayer Pearl has now engaged Amana Contracting and Steel Buildings to build a new state-of-the-art facility at the Investment Park. The new facility is expected to be complete in 2015 and will feature research, development and application laboratories, advanced manufacturing technologies and a demonstration centre.

"The Middle East is one of the fastest growing economies in the world. Dubai serves as the ideal base for Bayer Pearl to further strengthen its presence in the region," said Thorsten Eschmeier, CEO of Bayer Pearl. "The site will host offices and operations and is strategically located close to Jebel Ali Port and the new Dubai World Central airport. Furthermore, the new site allows us to expand our competence in developing new applications and manufacturing processes for our materials in close collaboration with our customers."

Denmark: Danish insulation materials producer Rockwool plans to invest Euro67m to modernise its plant in Øster Doense in Jutland. No further details have been released.

Malaysia: PGF Insulation Sdn Bhd plans to build a second mineral wool plant next to its existing plant in Penang and start production in early 2016. PGF has awarded the first phase of the project to a local contractor and work is expected to commence in May 2014. This phase of the project, when completed, will have a capacity of 20,000MT/yr with a focus on batts and boards production.

PGF has started its plant expansion plan due to growing demand for its glasswool products in the Asia Pacific region. The five-acre site was acquired in 2008 for future expansion purposes. PGF's current facility has a production capacity of 20,000Mt/yr. The first phase project will add 20,000Mt/yr and it will be operational in 2016. A second phase will add a further 20,000Mt/yr bringing the total production capacity to 60,000Mt/yr. PGF intends to be become the largest mineral wool manufacturer in the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) region when the upgrades are completed.

This news article was updated on 3 April 2014

Saudi Arabia: Prince Saud bin Naif bin Abdulaziz, governor of the Eastern Province, officially inaugurated the new Arabian Fibreglass Insulation Co Ltd (AFICO) factory in Dammam Second Industrial City on 15 January 2014.

The new factory has an installed capacity of 24,000Mt/yr, increasing the company's total manufacturing capacity in its combined plants to 37,000Mt/yr. The new plant will manufacture products primarily for use in the construction industry.

The additional production capacity will enable AFICO to introduce energy-efficient, environmentally-friendly fibreglass insulation products to the marketplace. The products are expected to assist local governing authorities in the GCC countries to implement more stringent building code requirements that are aimed at increasing energy-efficiency and improving fire safety standards.

The new plant has successfully completed the pilot production process and has commenced commercial production of fibreglass insulation materials. The Prince expressed his pride and admiration for this advanced industrial facility and its contribution to the support of existing industrial projects in the Kingdom.

Russia: Finish insulation producer Paroc is preparing to open an insulation plant in Tver in December 2013. The plant will primarily produce materials for the Russian market but technical insulation materials will also be exported to European Union members, according to Russian media.

"The demand for insulation is likely to increase in Russia. The growth here has been even more rapid than in Europe," said Kari Lehtinen, CEO of Paroc Group. "Our share of the Russian market is about 2%. After launching production at full capacity, we are planning to control 7 to 8% of the Russian market."

The new plant's location was chosen because of the railway links between Tver, near Moscow, and St Petersburg. Once opened, Paroc's new plant will be the third Finnish plant in the Tverskaya Oblast region of Russia. Paroc purchased the former mineral wool plant in late 2011 and has rebuilt around 90% of the production machinery. Currently 150 workers are employed by the plant and Paroc plans to increase that number to 400 by 2015 and to 600 when development of the site is complete.

Austria: Wienerberger AG has announced that it has completed the construction of a new production plant in Haiding, Upper Austria. The plant will produce the Porotherm W.i. clay blocks. W.i. stands for 'with thermal insulation', which means the insulating material, natural mineral wool, is already integrated in the clay block.

France: Etex has invested Euro25m towards upgrading four of its French Siniat polystyrene factories plants in its gypsum division. The investment is intended to reinforce Siniat's market share of exterior polystyrene-backed plasterboards for insulation.

Euro12m has been allocated to the Rantigny plant to raise its annual production capacity of back liners and insulating façade panels to 500,000m3. Euro7m will go to the Château-Gontier factory plant and Euro5.5m to the Loriol plant to expand and automate production capacity. Euro0.5m will be used to complete the production line at the Villeneuve-sur-Lot plant.