Insulation industry news from Global Insulation

US: Owens Corning’s sales revenue has risen by 7% year-on-year to US$2.78bn in the first half of 2016 from US$2.61bn in the same period in 2016. Its net earnings rose by 78% to US$198m from US$111m. However, sales revenue for its insulation business fell by 4% to US$799m from US$830m. No reason for the decline in insulation revenue was given, but the company expects slightly negative revenue growth and relatively flat margins to continue for the full year.

UK: Sergei Kolesnikov, president of construction materials producer TekhnoNicol, will acquire Superglass. Kolesnikov has made an offer of US$11.49m for the Scottish glass mineral wool insulation producer via his company Inflection based in Cyprus. The board of directors of Superglass unilaterally recommended approving the purchase proposal. The shareholders who own 63.5% in Superglass have already submitted irrevocable obligations to sell their stakes.

"This transaction and the commercial partnership between Superglass and TekhnoNicol, is a strategic opportunity for all parties, providing TekhnoNicol, with a presence in the UK and Irish insulation markets. We are impressed with Superglass' management team and look forward to working with them," said Sergei Kolesnikov, the sole shareholder of Inflection.

Belgium: VIPA International, the Vacuum Insulation Panel Association, has said that the European Committee for Standardisation (CEN) is set to complete a final draft standard for the for the use of vacuum insulation panels (VIP) technology in building applications by the end of 2016.

“The VIP industry is looking forward to the publication of this standard. This was one of main motors driving the creation of the association and in the past year we commissioned three studies that will hopefully accelerate some of the technical discussions within Working Group 11. Standards are key tools to increase customer trust in new products so we hope this will impact very positively on the market acceptance of vacuum insulation panels,” said president of VIPA International, Roland Caps

The CEN Technical Committee 88 (thermal insulating materials and products) Working Group 11 (vacuum insulation products - VIP) is responsible for drafting the buildings specification for the factory made vacuum insulated panels. The Technical Committee 88, WG 11, has agreed on a general procedure to extrapolate the results of accelerated aging tests, both for silica and non-silica core materials like glass fibres. This allows determining the mean thermal conductivity values throughout the considered service lifetime of the panels, which for applications in the construction industry, similar to other insulation materials in this industry, is set to 25 years.

VIPA International plans to extend the procedures defined by the CEN TC88/WG11, which apply only to buildings, to other applications where VIPs are used like appliances, hot water tanks and containers or boxes for temperature sensitive goods. A separate quality and testing regulation already exists and is being reviewed together with an approved Inspection and Certification Body. A special VIP Quality Mark will be awarded to VIP manufacturers that comply with these rules.

For an article on the history of VIPs and VIPA see the May 2016 issue of Global Insulation

UK: Ken Munro, the chief executive officer of Superglass, has been appointed the chairman of the Mineral Wool Insulation Manufacturers’ Association (MIMA). He replaces David Travill, managing director of Isover Saint Gobain, in the role.

“I would like to thank David for his leadership and contribution, and I am pleased to be assuming the chair at such a critically important time for energy efficiency policy. Investment in the fabric of our homes and in their energy efficiency is good for the economy, increases productivity and attracts investment,” said Munro. “In Scotland, our government has already committed to making the energy efficiency of our homes an infrastructure priority and is supported by the influential Energy & Climate Change Committee, led by Scottish National Party Chair, Angus MacNeil. This is an encouraging position but we would like to see this realised across the United Kingdom.”

Sarah Kostense-Winterton, executive director of MIMA, added that the organisation aims to protect consumers from energy price volatility and from fuel poverty, whilst reducing the UK’s carbon emissions.

Germany: BASF has developed a new technology for welding insulation boards. The contactless, thermal welding process makes it possible to combine a variety of insulation materials. For example, Styrodur, an extruded rigid polystyrene foam from BASF, can be combined with polyurethane, inorganic insulation materials, or the melamine resin foam Basotect to form completely new insulation material solutions.

BASF ‘s Styrodur portfolio includes new, thick boards made using this process in the highly compression-proof varieties Styrodur 4000 CS and 5000 CS. The boards cover the thickness range from 60mm to 240mm with a consistently good insulation value (lambda = 0.035W/mK).