Insulation industry news from Global Insulation

Russia: TechnoNicol plans to carry out an upgrade at its Khabarovsk basalt mineral wool insulation plant. The planned project will fully automate production at the plant and double its capacity. The producer expects the upgrade to improve safety, sustainability and product quality.

Germany: Cemex Zement has launched Insularis cement-free concretes, a product range suitable for use in building insulating components. The range includes lightweight concretes Insularis Supra and Insularis Infra. Due to its low bulk density, Insularis Infra currently requires special case-by-case or project-related approval for use in Germany. The company said that it produces Insularis concretes from a mix of recycled and natural raw materials. It added that Insularis is itself 100% recyclable.

Spain: Saint-Gobain Isover has launched the Geowall range of stone wool insulation. The range consists of Geowall 34, Geowall 35 and Geowall 37. The company says that the range replaces its Acustilaine products. It is non-hydrophilic and uncoated for excellent thermal and acoustic performance. It called Geowall the ‘optimal choice’ for the design and execution of laminated gypsum board systems.

Austria: Austrotherm says that its Resolution Facade foam insulation product is being used for exterior renovations in Vienna’s many pre-1919 apartment blocks. These kinds of jobs require thin insulation to maintain a building’s profile.

Sales director Robert Novak said, “An apartment building built before 1919 has a heating requirement of 120 - 250kWh/m². They are therefore five times worse than newly-built residential complexes, which have had to meet the lowest energy house standard across Europe since 1 January 2021.” He concluded, “There is still a lot of renovation potential in this building category.”

Buildings of this period currently house 500,000 people in Vienna and number 30,000, 20% of the total number of residential buildings. 20,000 are in the Wilhelmian architectural style, known for its facades.

France: Unilin has renamed its product ranges for greater international clarity. The Le Moniteur des Artisans has reported that the Isocombo range of insulation will now be called Utherm Comfort and the Trilatte, Rexolight, Rexotoit, Rexolatte and Thermiwall ranges will now be called Usystem. Product names will additionally inform of application, for example ‘roof’ or ‘wall,’ and type of insulation. Interior panels will lastly bear a colour name.

The producer also announced the launch of a new logo.

Turkey: Assan Panel has added two new insulation boards to its product range. Its new AssanBoard insulation boards consist of a polyurethane (PUR)-polyisocyanurate (PIR) mix, while its new AssanWool insulation boards are made of stone wool. The company says that both boards are suitable for roof trapezoidal sheet, seam system, cassette and curtain wall system use, as well as for use in acoustic applications and fire compartment applications.

Spain: Saint-Gobain Isover has launched APTA Arena 48, a 48mm thick variant of its sand mineral wool product. It is intended for use with internal partition walls with the 48mm grid system. The product offers thermal resistance of 1.40m2K/W with λ = 34mW/mK.

France: LafargeHolcim subsidiary LafargeFrance has relaunched its Airium mineral foam, a concrete block additive, for a new application, namely roof insulation. The company says that Airium has a lifespan of 50 years and “retains heat in winter like most insulation, while also preserving buildings’ freshness in summer” thanks to its phase shift time of over nine hours.

Lafarge France developed the new application in partnership with coatings producer PRB. It said, “We select premium applicators (blowers) from suppliers from LafargeHolcim’s screeds and PRB coatings network. The PRB and Airium partnership thus takes on its full meaning and ensures quality service to new users.”

UK: Knauf Insulation has launched a new product in its Earthwool Soffit Linerboard range, intended for use in car parks, stadiums and commercial units. Rock mineral wool product manager Luke Davies said, “Specifications for non-combustible soffit insulation are likely to increase as building regulations evolve further and soffit applications become a focus for fire safety. We’ve improved Earthwool Soffit Linerboard to give customers the best possible solution to respond to this demand.”

The product uses tube washers instead of all-steel for ease of installation and each board has greater rigidity than previous products to reduce susceptibility to thermal bridging. Knauf Insulation says that its ECOSE Technology bio-based binder makes Earthwool Soffit Linerboard soft, durable, easy to handle and low in dust and volatile organic compounds (VOCs).

US: Owens Corning has announced a new line of extruded polystyrene (XPS) foam insulation products called Foamular NGX. It is set to go on sale in the US and Canada in January 2021. It says that the proprietary blowing agent in the products deliver a 90% reduction in global warming potential (GWP) without sacrificing product performance. It is Underwriters Laboratory (UL) listed, Factory Mutual (FM) approved and compliant with regulations set to take effect in Canada and some US states in January 2021. The environmental benefits of the products will be reflected in a new Environmental Product Declaration (EPD). The new product line will retain the signature Owens Corning pink colour.