9th Global Gypsum Conference 2009
11-12 May, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil
Review by Dr Nino Mancino and Dr Robert McCaffrey, conference co-convenors
Image gallery for the 9th Global Gypsum Conference 2009
The exotic Brazilian city of Rio de Janeiro was the setting for the 9th Global Gypsum Conference and Exhibition, held on 11-12 May 2009. Some 170 delegates from 35 countries around the world, including a healthy delegation from the host nation, attended the two days of presentations and networking, as well as a truly memorable gala dinner. The main themes of the event included important advances in manufacturing technology and the state of the industry worldwide. The venue for the 10th Global Gypsum Conference was also announced – Paris, France, in October 2010.
The conference began with a well-attended cocktail reception party on the evening of Sunday 10 May, before the conference proper commenced on schedule at 9am. Conference co-convenor Dr Robert McCaffrey welcomed everyone to the conference, and made special mention of the fact that most delegates had travelled long distances to be in Rio, which in the midst of the global economic crisis was encouraging.
The first speaker was none other than Dr Bob Bruce of Innogyps, who gave a stark, honest, and realistic assessment of the state of the gypsum wallboard industry in North America. As both the credit crunch and the subsequent recession have taken hold, new housing permits and starts have nose-dived, while homeowners have seen the value of their properties plunge. Demand has also been affected by the fact that in times of economic uncertainty, the tendency for people to invest capital into their homes – for example in the form of renovation work – diminishes.
As demand has fallen off the proverbial cliff, gypsum manufacturers have seen prices soften, profits collapse, resulting in them having to cut costs by a variety of methods, e.g. mothballing of capacity, cuts in wages and working hours, redundancies, as well as the permanent closure of facilities in some cases.
This is not the first time that the gypsum industry has gone through a recession – in fact Bob commented that since his entry into the gypsum industry in 1977, this is the fourth cycle he has experienced. However, Bob stated quite bluntly that the current downturn is by far the worst during that time, and probably the worst ever.
Nevertheless, recessions, as Bob reminded the audience, are temporary, and the presence of several long-term demand factors will help the industry in the future. Key among these is immigration into the US, which stands at approximately 1m/y. Such an influx of people into the country will necessitate the creation of more homes. This will have a positive effect on the demand for wallboard and other gypsum products. There are also roughly 11m illegal immigrants currently living in the US; were the US government to create an amnesty for these people and allow them to live and work legally, then there is a good chance that families will settle and buy permanent homes.
On the long-term supply-side, the situation will also be helped by the creation of more modern, cost-effective and profitable plants. Indeed, such plants continue to come online today, and are making profits even in the current crisis. Bob predicted that steady, sustainable profits will return to the North American gypsum industry by 2012, although a return to pre-2007 levels will probably not happen until the peak of the cycle after that.
The second speaker was Dr Joe Harder of OneStone Consulting, Germany, who presented a valuable paper on the latest market trends in the global gypsum industry. Global plasterboard consumption has stagnated in recent years across all major sectors, with 2008 being a particularly bad year. The US, Europe and Japan once dominated the world market with 90% in 1995 and 84% in 2005. This dropped to 77% in 2008, while China has now emerged to become a more significant player – it enjoyed a massive two-digit expansion in capacity between 2005-2008. Nevertheless, capacity utilisation remained lower in China and other developing nations than it did among the more mature sectors on Europe, Australasia, while North American capacity usage fell from 90% to only 65% between 2005-2008.
Joe went on to list some of the major global plasterboard producers, before concluding with a look at how the market will develop in years to come. Echoing the sentiments of the previous speaker, Joe predicted that, all things being equal, growth in the plasterboard market will stagnate in the next 2-3 years. The great ‘unknown’ will be the effect on the plasterboard market of the various stimulus packages that governments around the world have announced in recent months. Dr Harder forecasts that these stimulus packages will serve to return the industry to 2007 levels by 2010, and that until 2020 global capacity will rise to 1.35bnm2/y.
After coffee and networking the splendidly-named Josias Inojosa de Oliveira Filho, president of Sindusgesso – the Pernambuco State Gypsum Association – gave a presentation describing the gypsum industry in Brazil. More than 95% of Brazil’s gypsum reserves are concentrated in the north-eastern state of Pernambuco, specifically in the western Araripe area, which hosts several natural gypsum quarries. Approximately 5.5Mt of high purity gypsum (ca. 95%) was mined from Araripe in 2008; confirmed reserves are placed at 228Mt, while estimated reserves stand at 1.2bnt. Gypsum in this area is used for a variety of applications: in cement production, as an agricultural chemical, dental moulds, wall panels, ceiling tiles, and even classroom chalk, to name but a few.
Josias went on to say that Sindusgesso supports the activities of members in a variety of ways. It recently opened a Technology Centre in Araripe for the use of its affiliates, and has been extremely successful in promoting their products through its export arm, Brazilian Gypsum, to a number of developing countries, most notably to states in Africa and the Middle East.
The fourth and final paper before lunch was given by Gunter Leitner, president of the Brazilian Association of Plasterboard Manufacturers, and president of Knauf do Brasil. Mr Leitner described the evolution of and the challenges faced by the plasterboard industry in Brazil. The first Brazilian plasterboard plant came online in Pernambuco in 1972 under the ownership of Gypsum do Nordeste, but, due to a lack of skilled workers, poor marketing and low capacity, the company struggled until it was purchased by Lafarge in 1995.
The 1980s saw the entry of São Paulo-based building company Método Engenharia into the plasterboard market. This company used imported parts and materials in its production process, largely as a result of the restrictive trade policy of the Brazilian government at that time, as well as due to a general lack of product knowledge among the country’s civil engineers and architects. Metodo’s success was habitually thwarted until the 1990 election of reformist president Fernando Collor de Melho, who sought to open up the Brazilian economy to international trade.
As a result of these reforms, the plasterboard industry began to flourish somewhat, to the extent that between 1995 and 1998, Brazil had acquired three plasterboard plants: Lafarge Gypsum in north-eastern Petrolina, Knauf do Brasil in Queimados and Placo do Brasil in Mogi de Cruzes (both in the south).
Mr Leitner said that at the outset plasterboard manufacturers in Brazil faced several economic, technical and cultural challenges in order to increase market share: Firstly, there were (and still are) the huge logistical problems brought about by the distance between the main reserves in north-eastern Pernambuco and the main urban centres of consumption in the south – some 2500-3000km (and as Gunter showed with some revealing photos, the pretty parlous state of Brazil’s roads and highways does not help in this regard!). A second hurdle was the need to challenge the orthodoxy of non-plasterboard-based products that traditionally dominated the building materials sector in Brazil. Thirdly was the relatively high level of investment that was (and again still is) needed in terms of materials, manpower and marketing, not to mention overcoming the relatively burdensome tax system in Brazil. Another key challenge was the lack of an agreed set of technical standards for the use of plasterboard in Brazil. The necessity to solve these challenges was the biggest reason why the Brazilian Association of Plasterboard Manufacturers was set-up in the 1990s.
Since its inception, the Association has made strides forward in its mission, including the publication of technical manuals and the organisation of training courses and seminars – all important steps in helping to promote the benefits of plasterboard to a largely sceptical industry. Nevertheless, and as Gunter was honest enough to admit, the Association has enjoyed only limited success thus far. It is true to say that plasterboard consumption in Brazil has grown steadily from ca. 1.3Mm2 in 2004 to ca. 2.4Mm2 in 2008. Nevertheless, per capita consumption of plasterboard in Brazil lags well behind that in other industrialised countries. The development of the industry in Brazil thus faces many significant challenges, and its future success will depend on continued heavy investment for some time to come.
After lunch Mark Flumiani of Innogyps Inc gave a ground-breaking paper on the use of computer-aided tomography (CAT) scans of gypsum board, a technique that yields information on bubble size distribution and density sections and on what actually happens during the nail pull test. Further refinements of CAT scans down to the nano-scale may in the future allow the mapping in 3D of air voids due to evaporated water, which are below the resolution of current technology. Mark suggested that CAT scans of gypsum board could help producers improve quality, reduce energy usage and to reduce material usage.
Continuing the session on quality optimisation and control, Stefan Jerrelid of Limab spoke about his company’s range of board-sensing applications, including the GMS1100 thickness width and edge profile system, the newly-upgraded FalconEye surface inspection system and three systems that are to be launched in 2009 – VoidDent, SetTemp and PaperBreak. Together, these five systems allow producers to ensure consistent quality and to control costs very effectively.
Zhang Chengong of BNBM, part of the China National Building Material Group Corporation (CNBM) next spoke about CNBM’s wallboard production line technology, particularly with regards to its capabilities with FGD raw materials. It is plain that BNBM is now one of the largest suppliers of wallboard production line technology, with very many references throughout China. The company has great ambitions to export its increasingly sophisticated plants around the world. BNBM is unique in that it not only supplies production technology, but is also a very large producer of boards in its own right, with 27 operating factories in China. As they say, “Watch this space.”
Henrik Wetegrove of Claudius Peters Projects GmbH was next up, with a presentation on the company’s new homogeniser system. This new mixing chamber, set up after the calcining kettle and before the stucco mill, has the effect of homogenising product quality, improving water demand and decreasing fuel consumption for stucco, as well as improving product stabilisation, extending the setting time and improving product strength for plaster production. The patented homogeniser is simple, requiring only two mixer motors and the use of system off-gas for fluidisation, and has already been proved at pilot scale. The first industrial scale applications are eagerly awaited.
Concluding the day, Eli Shachaf of NESTEK gave an overview of the use of wax emulsions for waterproofing wallboards. Although Mr Shachaf allowed that using silicones allowed reduced water demand during board production, he concluded that the many other benefits of wax emulsions gave them the advantage over other water-proofing systems.
Gala Dinner and Global Gypsum Awards 2009
The Gala Dinner took place at the Manquiera Samba School in Rio de Janeiro – one of the most famous samba schools in all of Brazil. Delegates were welcomed to the occasion by strikingly tall and beautiful girls in stunning carnival dresses, and were treated to an awe-inspiring display of samba dancing and drumming.
During the Gala Dinner, the Global Gypsum Awards 2009 were presented by conference convenor Dr Robert McCaffrey. The awards received more than twice as many nominations in 2009 as in any previous year. Reflecting the fact that it was one of the few wallboard companies in the world which did not have a double-digit collapse in production in 2008-2009, and reflecting its emergence as a world-class board producer, the award for Global Gypsum company of the year went to BNBM, Beijing New Building Materials, part of CNBM.
The supplier of the year award went to America’s Aecometric company, for its increasingly popular low-Nox and high efficiency burners. Both Brazilian paper supplier Klabin and well-known systems-supplier Gyptech were close runners-up for the award. Unusually, and reflecting the number of nominations received, the judges decided to split the plant of the year award.
The gypsum wallboard plant of the year was awarded to Knauf do Brasil’s Queimados plant, while the gypsum plant of the year went to Supergesso’s giant plaster plant in Brazil – to wildly enthusiastic applause from the Brazilian attendees of the event. Amid much competition and many nominations from competing products, the Global Gypsum product of the year was awarded to RapidWall (see below). The principals of the company were at the event to collect their award, having made a 40-hour journey from Australia to be there.
The Global Gypsum personality of the year was awarded to soon-to-retire Stig Hesse, a valiant attendee of every Global Gypsum Conference since its inception and a life-long gypsum veteran, known and liked by everyone in the industry. Following this special evening, he can retire a happy man. Finally, unveiled by two statuesque mulatto beauties, Paris was named as the venue for the next Global Gypsum Conference, in October 2010 – to indecorous celebrations from the French contingent. The evening gave an insight into the ‘real’ Brazil, and was thoroughly enjoyed by all.
Second day
Despite a tiring previous evening, Alfred Brosig of Grenzebach BSH woke everyone up with a fantastically enthusiastic and stimulating presentation on a new method for making calcium sulphate alpha hemihydrate. Grenzebach has patented a new ‘semi-wet’ method to convert dihydrite to alpha-hemihydrate. Fine particulate gypsum is agitated in a horizontal autoclave and a solution of water and crystal habit modifier are sprayed onto it, as well as steam in a closed loop. The process is based on two thermodynamic ‘axioms:’ As long as surface moisture is available, the gypsum particles can’t get overheated, since the surface water acts as a protective shield until all the water is evaporated and secondly, as long as free moisture is available, steam can’t be overheated but will always be in saturated conditions. Using the new process, a new low-cost binder of high quality and strength will now become more widely available.
Rod Macgregor, a serial entrepreneur of stock-exchange-listed companies, gave a thought-provoking presentation on the possibilities of making wallboard with energy derived from the sun, on behalf of his new company, Cleanboard. Thermal energy from the sun is converted in large arrays of solar collectors into heat which can be stored in the form of molten salt. This high-grade heat (in the region of 350-400°C) can be used in the board dryer, via a heat exchanger. Rod countered the impression that it could not work since the sun goes down and sometimes it is cloudy with the sensible suggestions that enough heat can be stored to run overnight, and that if there is an extended period without enough sunshine, that the plant’s normal burners can be turned back on. Solar thermal plants are obviously more attractive when the energy price is high and when there are tax breaks for using ‘green’ energy: with the likely imposition of carbon taxes, Cleanboard starts to look less crackpot and more sensible.
Charlie Blow of CasoFour was next up, to give a presentation entitled ‘New technology that will change the industry forever.’ In essence, CasoFour’s NuGyp LoCal technology produces low water-demand beta plaster at minimal cost and using low capital cost equipment. The patented NuGyp process exposes the freshly calcined plaster to steam at pressures above atmospheric for specified times from 30 seconds to 3 minutes. NuGyp plaster has a ‘tunable’ water demand reduction down to -40%, and Charlie suggested that savings of $2.50-8.00 per msf of plasterboard can be expected. A NuGyp LoCal plant is currently being built with the capacity to supply one plasterboard line.
Jürgen Bäumer of WTW then gave an overview of the fundamentals of hopper and silo design for use with gypsum, including some of the designs his company has put into practice of the years. Particular care has to be used when designing facilities handling sticky FGD gypsum.
Ingo Dietzold then gave a detailed case study on the handling and storage of natural and synthetic gypsum at Saint-Gobain’s British Gypsum plant at Sherburn-in-Elmet, UK. The complete plant upgrade project was managed by British Gypsum engineers and included intake from tipping truck (using the famous Samson surface feeder), transfer to storage, discharge and reclaim from storage, transfer to mill bunkers, electrical control and automation and erection and commissioning. The project started in 2005, and was completed in 2007.
Francisco Cabrejos of Jenike & Johanson, Inc., based in Chile, also gave information on the fundamentals of gypsum hopper and silo design, and detailed some of the material characteristics that have to be taken into account – strength, compressibility, wall friction, permeability, wear – when designing handling systems.
The penultimate paper at the conference was given by Greg Rice, who spoke about how the patented Rapidwall building system is gaining market traction around the world. Rapidwall is a large load-bearing building panel made of gypsum and reinforced glass-fibre rovings. The panels have cellular hollows and are produced to a finished size of 12m x 3m x 124mm thick, and Greg proudly claimed that they have the lowest embodied energy rating for any load-bearing building system presently available in the world. A waterproofing system can be added to the gypsum mix to make it suitable for internal or external use. Greg also spoke about the fluidised-bed Rapidflow calciner developed by his company, which produces relatively high-strength beta plasters at low temperature and high thermal efficiency. Greg Rice suggested that investing in the Rapidwall panel system and the Rapidflow calciner could allow a company to start producing building material at relatively low capital cost – ideal for developing economies – with a potential return on investment of 50%.
The final paper at the conference was given by Mike Fenton of Aecometric Corporation. Mike was fresh from having travelled around the world in the preceding few weeks, meeting customers for the company’s increasingly popular low-Nox, high efficiency burners. Mike gave details of how the company’s burners achieve the seemingly impossible feat of keeping emissions down, while at the same time minimising fuel usage and maximising efficiency.
Farewell party and best presentation awards
Following the end of the technical programme, delegates adjourned for the Farewell Party to a spectacular hillside restaurant which offered fantastic views over Rio. In the farewell speech, conference convenor Robert McCaffrey offered thanks to the Brazilian tourist agents for the event – BITourism – as well as the Brazilian co-sponsors of the conference, Brazilian Gypsum and Sindusgesso (and in particular Rafaella Sartori and Beatriz Vega). The industry sponsors of the event were also thanked – Erisim, Grenzebach, Gyptech, Johns Manville, Owens Corning and Syngenta. For its clean lines and classy design, the best exhibition stand award went to Grenzebach. Alfred Dayem of SICIT 2000 (seen left) was awarded – by popular acclamation – an unofficial award for ‘best dancer’ at the preceding night’s Gala Dinner. The spouses (seen right) attended the evening, and thoroughly enjoyed their visit to Rio.
In the best presentation awards, three papers tied for fourth place: Mark Flumiani for his paper on CAT scans of wallboard, Rod Macgregor for his paper on Cleanboard, and Charlie Blow for his paper on NuGyp. In third place was the ever-popular Bob Bruce for his sobering assessment of the prospects for the global gypsum wallboard industry, and in second place was Greg Rice (seen left) for his beautifully delivered and persuasive paper on Rapidwall. However, in first place, and winner of the Best Presentation Award for his lively and ground-breaking paper on a new method of manufacturing alpha-hemihydrate was Alfred Brosig of Grenzebach.
It only remained for the organisers of the conference to thank delegates for coming to the conference in beautiful Rio de Janeiro, to wish them a safe journey home, and to look forward to the 10th Global Gypsum Conference, in autumn 2010, in Paris.
