Insulation industry news from Global Insulation

US: Owens Corning has published its 2023 Sustainability Report, highlighting its advances in sustainability in the past year. These included a 59% share of revenues from reduced-CO₂ products, with a 25% share of revenues from 14 products certified as produced with 100% renewable electricity. Scope 1 and 2 emissions fell by 28% from 2018 levels, in line with the group’s 50% 2030 reduction target. It launched a pilot bitumen felt shingle recycling programme, aimed at recycling 2Mt/yr of shingles in the US by 2030. Further, Owens Corning reduced its generation of landfill waste by 14% from 2018 levels, and launched a Circular Economy Recycling Technology Innovation Laboratory in Granville, Ohio. In 2023, the group’s incident rate was 81% below the industry average, and it remains on track to meet its 2030 inclusion and diversity goals.

Senior vice president and chief sustainability officer David Rabuano said “Our 2030 sustainability goals are growing ever closer, and we believe that the targets we have set for ourselves are well within our reach. This confidence is the result of our employees’ unparalleled engagement and enthusiasm for our mission coupled with our investments in the innovation required to execute new solutions.”

Chair and CEO Brian Chambers said “Owens Corning demonstrated outstanding financial and sustainability results in 2023, showcasing the power of our company’s mission to build a sustainable future through material innovation. This report reflects the global scope of our people and our products and the many ways they work to make the world a better place.”

Owens Corning recorded net sales of US$9.68bn in 2023, down by 1% from US$9.76bn in 2022, while its adjusted earnings before interest and taxation, depreciation and amortisation (EBITDA) grew by 2% to US$2.31bn.

Germany: Grenzebach says that it has completed the construction of the Hütten wood fibre insulation plant in Bavaria's Neustadt an der Waldnaab District for Ziegler Group subsidiary Naturheld. The plant took a total of 12 months to build, and will run on 100% renewable energy. Naturheld will use waste wood from Ziegler Group's wood processing operations in the region. Grenzebach says that it developed a novel wood blending system for implementation at the plant. The supplier said that the plant has a wood fibre production capacity of 6t/hr, and is capable of expanding to 10t/hr. The plant gives Ziegler Group the capacity to produce 1.5Mm²/yr of its wood fibre insulation product.

Managing director Stefan Ziegler said "Building the wood fiber insulation board plant within such an extremely short period was possible only thanks to the close cooperation with a renowned automation partner of international standing like Grenzebach. As a solution provider, Grenzebach supplied both the necessary product and technical know-how and expertise and was able to make the required capacities available at all times."

Ireland: Kingspan's CO₂ emissions fell by 26% over the two years between 2020 and 2022. The group aims to achieve a 90% reduction in CO₂ emissions between 2020 and 2030. The Irish Times newspaper has reported that the company adopted a Euro70/t internal pricing mechanism in January 2023. Over the past three years, it increased its renewable energy share to 33% from 20%, increased its rainwater harvesting capacity by 26% and reduced its volume of waste sent to landfill by 42%.

Kingspan head of sustainability Bianca Wong said "It’s a testament to the enduring efforts of our colleagues that we completed over 100 projects in 2022. We will continue to build on our progress to date and aim to further accelerate our strategies in the coming years."

Europe: Dow has announced the European launch of V PLUS Perform Next, a polyurethane (PU) insulation product for use in insulated metal panels. V PLUS Perform Next insulation contains alternative raw materials from circular feedstocks, including bio-based feedstocks. Dow allocates the feedstocks based on a mass balance chain of custody, validated by International Sustainability and Carbon Certification (ISCC). It produces V PLUS Perform Next using over 25% renewable energy.

Dow PU construction insulation marketing fellow Alberto Mercati said “The new EU Energy Performance of Buildings directive adds urgency for buildings that require energy efficient insulation with decreased embodied carbon. For the last five years, V PLUS Perform has enabled insulated metal panel manufacturers to deliver building envelopes that couple energy efficiency and fire safety. V PLUS Perform Next supports insulated panel manufacturers to select lower carbon and circular construction ingredients from the design phase to the delivery of a novel class of products for more sustainable buildings.”

Germany: Knauf Insulation has launched new overwraps on its global insulation product portfolio. The new packaging reduces ink consumption by 70% through its design, featuring a white or off-white base hue and no more than one additional colour. The wraps are designed to maximise ease and efficiency and reduce cost of recycling. This is in line with Knauf Insulation's commitment to recycle over 25% of packaging by 2025. Within the same timeframe, it also aims to reduce its packaging's virgin plastic consumption by 25% and collect over 35% of delivery pallets for repair and reuse or recycling.

Germany: Chemicals producer BASF has partnered with RAMPF Eco Solutions, Poland-based Remondis Electrorecycling and engineering company KraussMaffei to develop depolymerisation techniques to produce polyol from waste polyurethane (PU) fridge insulation, as an alternative to natural hydrocarbons. The recovered polyol could then be used as a raw material in PU insulation production.

BASF said "This innovative process is particularly challenging because it has to be very robust in order to reliably convert post-consumer waste with high levels of foreign substances into a high-quality recycled polyol.”

Waste fridge insulation's only current use is as an alternative fuel by the energy sector.

France: Saint-Gobain subsidiary Isover has begun construction of a prototype glass wool recycling plant in Chemillé-en-Anjou. Contractor Eiffage Génie Civil is executing the project, which is scheduled for commissioning in 2023.

Isover France and Switzerland technical director Jérôme Saulnier saud "The realisation of this revolutionary industrial prototype with fusion by immersed burners will make it possible to recycle glass wool in industrial quantities, transforming it into cullet. This cullet will be used in the manufacturing process of our insulating products and will also reduce our energy consumption, our carbon emissions and improve the life cycle of our products."

Kazakhstan: KazFeltec and Italy-based Cormatex plan to build a Euro10m natural wool insulation plant in Aktobe Region. Kazakhstan General Newsline has reported that the plant will use local coarse sheep’s wool, a waste product of which 3500t/yr is generated currently in Aktobe. The plant is scheduled for commissioning in mid-late 2023.

US: Saint-Gobain plans to invest a total of US$400m in expansions to its operations including insulation operations at four US sites. The group says that the sites are located in California and the Southeastern US. It said that the new capacities will apply the most advanced available technologies for industrial performance, safety and sustainability. This will reduce waste by 50% and CO2 emissions by 20% from current levels, according to the company.

Saint-Gobain said it hopes that the investments will strengthen its leadership in North America and accelerate its growth in the region by enriching its comprehensive range of solutions for light and sustainable construction.

US: Ireland-based Kingspan has acquired Minnesota Diversified Products, the producer of the DiversiFoam range of expanded polystyrene (EPS) and extruded polystyrene (XPS) foam and polyisocyanurate (PIR) foam billets. The group says that DiversiFoam will join Kingspan Insulation’s North American division and become a key proponent of its 10-year sustainability programme, Planet Passionate. It plans to expand the company’s Rockford EPS foam plastic recycling plant. Minnesota Diversified Products is committed to recycling 99% of production waste.

Managing Director Doug Crawford said "DiversiFoam and Kingspan are a natural fit from a geographic, technical and cultural perspective. The combination of these two outstanding businesses, coupled with Kingspan’s commitment to further investment will provide our collective customer base, our employees and our business partners with significant value. I am thrilled to welcome the DiversiFoam team into the Kingspan family.”