Insulation industry news from Global Insulation

Netherlands: The PolyStyreneLoop (PSL) Cooperative has inaugurated the European expanded polystyrene (EPS) / extruded polystyrene insulation (XPS) industry’s closed-loop project for the recycling of polystyrene (PS) insulation foam waste in Amsterdam. The research is testing a concept to dissolve the recently restricted chemical, Hexabromocyclododecane (HBCD), from PS foam waste while also allowing for the recovery of bromine, which can then be used again for the production of new flame retardants. The PSL project is intended to help the European Union (EU) deal with an expected 20Mt of insulation material containing HBCD that will need to be disposed of in the next 50 years.

The PolyStyreneLoop demonstration plant aims to begin operations in 2018 and will have the capacity to treat up to 3300t/yr of PS waste. Once up and running, the PolyStyreneLoop project will be able to cope with incoming PS foam waste streams and produce recyclate that could be used in new PS foam insulation installations. The new initiative has been financed and built by the 56 members and supporters of the PolyStyreneLoop Cooperative. The EU has also supported it financially.

The association for European Manufacturers of Expanded Polystyrene (EUMEPS) said that recycling PS foam typically saves as much as 50% CO₂ emissions compared to using it for energy recovery. It added that it believes that the technology it is testing offers an additional contribution to resource efficiency at the end-of-life phase for PS foam insulation, on top of the CO₂ emissions already saved by reducing energy consumption during the long-use phase of a building.

Germany: Va-Q-Tec AG is hosting a research project entitled ‘THECore’ that will examine thermally efficient, cost-reduced nanostructured foams for vacuum insulation panels (VIP). The project is linked to the Society and Enterprise Panel of the Individual Fellowship of Marie Sklodowska-Curie Actions (MSCA) of the European Union (EU). The main research topic of THECore is the development of new VIP products based on a new generation of core materials. Sumteq, the project’s second supporting company, will supply these.

Va-Q-Tec will carry out product tests and qualifications of the new materials. A starting meeting with both participant institutions was held on 22 June 2017, where researcher Flávia Almeida from Portugal introduced the main objectives of the project. She will lead the research for two years and will be supported by the MSCA.

MSCA are a set of major mobility research grants created by the EU and European Commission to support research in the European Research Area. It is currently financed through the Eighth Framework Program for Research and Technological Development (Horizon 2020) and belongs to the so-called first pillar ‘Excellent Science.’

UAE: Researchers at the United Arab Emirates University (UAEU) have developed a composite thermal insulation material made from a blend of unsaturated polyester liquid with date pits powder. The material is intended to improve upon the low mechanical properties that conventional insulation materials such as polyurethane, polystyrene and mineral wool have. As such it can be produced in different forms such as a sheets, boards and blocks.

“In the UAE, there is an on-going search for alternative means and materials that preserve and minimise the loss of energy in buildings,” said Basim Abu-Jdayil, Professor in Chemical and Petroleum Engineering, UAEU, who leads the project.

Thailand: Eastern Polymer Group has set aside US$8m to research and development of its insulation business. The funding will go towards new products and to enhance its production line with automatic and high-speed machinery for thermal insulation products under the Aeroflex brand, both domestic and international. Overall the company has set a revenue target of up to US$312m for its 2016 - 2017 financial year with a budget of US$57m for capital expenditure and mergers and acquisitions across its main businesses, according to the Nation.

US: The Building Science Corporation (BSC) has released a report detailing the results of a multi-year insulation research project. The most significant finding from the report is that sealed walls of the same R-value perform equally well regardless of the type of insulation used.

The study entailed a baseline set of seven test walls using various insulation types including fibreglass, cellulose, spray foam and extruded polystyrene.

Other selected highlights from the report include:

• When walls are constructed with the same installed R-value in the stud space and are air sealed both inside and outside, they exhibit essentially the same thermal performance regardless of the type of insulation material used.
• All of the reference test wall assemblies were subjected to significant temperature differences. Natural convective looping was not noted in any of the wall assemblies.
• Conventional energy models may over-predict the negative energy impact on walls that have a significant interaction effect (e.g. air moving through insulation).
• All wall assemblies experienced a loss in thermal performance due to air movement through the assembly. This is true for all of the assemblies tested, regardless of the type of insulation material used (e.g. cellulose, fiber glass, open cell spray foam, closed cell spray foam or extruded polystyrene.)
• Commercially available 2D and 3D heat transfer models provided good predictions of thermal bridging in the assemblies tested, as did the parallel path method described in the ASHRAE Handbook of Fundamentals and other texts.

UK: Jablite, the UK's leading manufacturer of expanded polystyrene insulation products, has appointed Silo, a new design studio, as 'designers-in-residence' at its Belvedere manufacturing site in east London. This unlikely relationship between an insulation manufacturer and the pair of designers, both MA graduates from the Royal College of Art, is taking both parties in unexpected and exciting directions.

"We were very impressed when we saw Silo's final degree show pieces made from EPS that we had given them," said Richard Lee, Managing Director at Jablite. "They were looking for sponsors to help them set up a studio. Instead of cash, we offered them studio space on our site." Jablite was keen to offer the pair a 'residency.'

"This is not something Jablite has ever done before but we are changing the way we work," said Lee. "Innovation of our products and operations is now central to our way of doing business and taking on Silo seemed an interesting step for us and them."

Through a process of trial and error, Silo has developed a new variant of EPS called 'Not So Expanded Polystyrene' (NSPS) and they have created some extraordinary and beautiful pieces with it, using handmade textile moulds.

"For us, the relationship with Jablite is a great opportunity. We can see how Jablite manufactures, the high standards it works to and the pressure of making quality products in large volumes to order and we can learn from that," said Oscar Wanless, one half of Silo. "Our aim is to use the same material and processes, but in an entirely new way, in a way that enables us to find new potential in a familiar material."

"Our challenge was to change the material properties to create a more durable, rigid and structural material that people will want to use and keep," added Silo's Attua Aparicio.