Global Gypsum 2026 review

24th Global Gypsum Conference, Exhibition & Awards

14 - 15 October 2026 - Istanbul

View the photo gallery from the 24th Global Gypsum Conference 2026

The 24th Global Gypsum Conference and Exhibition has successfully taken place in Istanbul, Türkiye, with a record 580 registered delegates. The 25th Global Gypsum Conference and Exhibition will take place on 20 - 21 October 2027 in Baveno, near Milan, Italy.

The conference in Istanbul was opened by Asilhan Arslan, Chairman of the Board of Directors of ALÇIDER, the Association of Turkish Gypsum Producers, who gave a gracious address and a welcome to Türkiye to all delegates, and who reminded the audience that Türkiye is a major producer of both plaster and plasterboard. Indeed, delegates from Türkiye made up the largest country block at the conference.

Jacob Winskell, deputy editor of Global Gypsum Magazine, then gave a short ‘Who’s who in gypsum’ introduction to the global gypsum industry, reminding delegates that China, the USA and Japan are the largest producers of wallboard, while Beijing New Building Materials (3.57Bnm2/yr), Knauf (3.31Bnm2/yr) and National Gypsum (US) (825Mm2/yr) are the top three companies.

Next, Tristan Suffys introduced Eurogypsum’s roadmap ‘Towards Climate Neutrality with Gypsum’ to decarbonise the industry in the EU (originally launched at the 21st Global Gypsum Conference in Chicago, US, in 2023). The industry emitted 5Mt of CO2 in 2025, with 2kg/m2 CO2-equivalent from gypsum wallboard production. Key components of the roadmap include decarbonising manufacturing (70% of gypsum wallboard production emissions) and raw materials sources (a further 13%). The roadmap breaks down into short-, medium- and long-term pathways: heat recovery and the renewable energy transition are already underway, with biofuels, electric heat and electric vehicle transportation to commence in the short-term future. Green hydrogen deployment will start in the medium-term future and carbon capture, utilisation and storage will follow in the longer run. Suffys handed over to Alicja Szambelan, who gave the delegates a history lesson in EU industrial decarbonisation policy since the 2019 European Green Deal, which is intended to halve EU CO2 emissions by 2030. EU elections brought in a more ‘competitiveness-focused’ European Parliament. As Szambelan diplomatically put it: decarbonisation efforts are increasingly balanced against other priority considerations, like affordable housing. New policies bore this out in 2025: the Clean Industrial Deal, Affordable Action Plan and 2040 Climate Targets – the key targets being a 90% reduction in CO2 emissions from 1990 levels. Then in 2026 the Industrial Accelerator Act (IAA) laid stress on ‘Made in Europe’ strategies to bolster industry’s competitiveness in the domestic market – with a particular focus on sectors with the highest emissions and, therefore, risk of carbon leakage. Negotiations continue on the IAA and Carbon Border Adjustment Mechanism (CBAM), alongside an on-going EU Emissions Trading Scheme review. “Decarbonisation,” Szambelan concluded, "also needs to justify itself as a business decision." Manolis Karampinis joined the Eurogypsum representatives on stage for a review of a particular pathway: biofuels. Karampinis suggested a shift in thinking from ‘decarbonisation’ to ‘defossilisation.’ With fuel prices increasingly volatile, electrification not yet fully mature and biomethane subject to increasing competition, he proposed solid biomass fuel as the stable, readily available alternative for the gypsum wallboard industry. Bioenergy is nothing new in the EU: it already accounts for 54% of the renewable energy mix. Karampinis acknowledged its requirements for deployment in a gypsum wallboard plant: proven technologies (for example a biomass boiler system); a stable supply; and space. He introduced a range of fuels suitable for use in gypsum wallboard plants, varying in their degree of commoditisation from wood pellets, through woodchips and agrocommodities down to locally-sourced residues from agriculture. Reference projects from Spain and Sweden demonstrated the use of different fuels, including in combination.

Grenzebach gave a presentation on two gypsum plant quality control processes. Simon Hennighausen introduced Grenzebach’s Real-time Optical Surface Inspection (ROSI) platform. Originally developed for use in wood veneer production, where it spots knots, splits and heartwood, ROSI inspects the faces of gypsum wallboards in order to assess whether to reject the product. Rolf Hertling next introduced Grenzebach’s Online Stucco Analyser, which monitors the combined water of stucco, along with other chemical variables, in 10-100sec cycles to supply continuous process transparency. Hertling gave utterance to Grenzebach’s profound connection to the material: “Gypsum is like a living thing."

Lennart Barge gave the next presentation, looking at moisture content measurement in gypsum boards. For decades, moisture control relied on spot measurements, with values in the rest of the board remaining unknown, and with a significant time delay. This could lead to under- or over-drying. Of course, the dryer removes the moisture from the surface of the board, leaving a relatively ‘wetter’ core. Microwave technology makes hidden moisture in the core visible, can measure mass per area and can deliver continuous measurements. Continuously knowing the moisture content in good time - allowing more timely control of the dryer - saves money, reduces emissions and can help to eliminate waste.

Jeff Warren and Oskar Johnsson of Gyptech next spoke about high temperature heat pumps for ultra-low-energy drying, as either retrofit or on new plants. Oskar noted a trend towards the use of electricity for drying, rather than gas or oil. Over the decades dryer efficiency has been dramatically improved, particularly in terms of process monitoring and control. Jeff mentioned that a temperature sensor can be embedded into the board at the wet end, which reports back on the temperature journey of an individual board all the way through to the stacker, giving vital information on dryer performance. Jeff and Oskar described a number of approaches to reduce energy consumption in the dryer and in the wider process. Jeff mentioned a moisture analysis machine incorporating a ‘cobot’ mini robot arm to further automate the process. Automatic wet and dry bulb temperature measurement has also been established.

Cevdet Karaibrahimoglu of Parget Makina next spoke on the optimisation of beta gypsum plaster production. Uniform heating is critical for product properties, and stable residence time in beta gypsum production supports consistent quality. Inner lifters in the rotary calciner improve material dispersion and avoids stratification, while precise control of the air-fuel mix is vital for flame stability. Heat can be recovered from exhaust gases to preheat combustion air or raw materials, and this can reduce energy consumption by 10-20%. Cevdet gave an example of the Ivano-Frankivsk 800t/day gypsum project in Ukraine, built for flexible fuel use (natural gas, diesel and coal/petcoke). Energy efficiency was a priority during commissioning, resulting in very significant savings while preserving production capacity. A new approach is the use of electrical heaters for air preheating which is then sent to the combustion chamber, resulting in a potential fossil fuel reduction of 50-60%. Cevdet suggested that AI will bring further efficiency to process control, resulting in more stable production, lower costs and higher production.

Thomas Billy, Watlow, spoke about the use of electrical heat in gypsum wallboard plants. The value of electrification is site-specific, depends on energy process, carbon intensity of electricity generation, any local carbon taxes / government incentives and grid / plant capacity, giving a wide range of commercial propositions. Thomas said that new adopters should take electrification of their gypsum calcining or wallboard drying process one step at a time, proving product quality and electrical operability in one zone, before expanding with confidence. When designing an electrically-powered heating system, the thermal design should lead the electrical design, a key component of which is the voltage. Watlow offers a range of low (690V) and medium (6900V) voltage solutions applicable to wallboard processes. Every solution focuses on the delivery and control of electrical thermal energy, as well as the collection of data to manage the process efficiently. Thomas provided a recent case-study in which 22 heating units with a total capacity of 30MW were installed at a North American wallboard plant.

Dr Widuramina Sameendranath from circular economy processing expert NOAH AS, spoke about the novel gypsum production method using industrial waste fractions. The process combines calcium chloride from fly ash (specifically from municipal waste incineration) with sodium sulphate from sulphuric acid production to produce 99% pure gypsum and sodium chloride. Laboratory studies in 2022 confirmed that the product had a high chloride concentration (>100ppm) and needed further dewatering before it could be supplied to gypsum-using industries. This was complicated by the dominance of long needle-shaped gypsum crystals, which are more difficult to dry using a centrifuge. NOAH’s first commercial plant will start to produce 2000t/yr of gypsum for supply to Norgips (part of Knauf) in December 2026. Production will subsequently increase to 30,000t/yr subject to the supply of sufficient industrial byproducts.

Pietro Rosato, LANXESS Deutschland, discussed how anti-microbial products aid gypsum wallboard producers in a market where greater quantities of recycled materials are being used. His test examples showed fungal growth due to incorporated traces of recycled paper and plaster. LANXESS’ fungicides protect against fungal growth at up to 30% recycled gypsum content. An audience member in the gypsum recycling business noted that their clients never reported issues with contamination or with fungal growth.

Oumaima Ez-Zebayry, IPS Makina, presented a paper on behalf of Cemal Ünlü about Controlled Advanced Fuel-saving (CAF) technology. The concept is a preheating and pre-calcination system that saves energy by recovering hot gas and water vapor and returns it to the production process. It uses a vertical preheater design with a counter-flow principle to pre-heat raw gypsum with hot process gas before it enters the kiln. This allows the kiln’s temperature to be reduced, for example, to 350-450°C from 650-850°C in a 40t/hr feed system. The lower temperature and longer calcination time creates a hybrid plaster with an outer core of beta-hemihydrate (60%) and an inner core of alpha-hemihydrate (40%).  The new plaster type leads to higher flexural strength and less variation than a rotary kiln. CAF technology has been installed on four 40t/hr lines in Turkey so far.

Awards dinner

The Global Gypsum Awards Dinner took place on a dining yacht cruising on the Bosphorus, in a memorably torrential rainstorm, which was apparently “the worst in 84 years,” according to the Governor of Istanbul. However, delegates safely enjoyed the voyage in the warm and dry of the huge dining yacht, and enjoyed networking, discussions and spectacular entertainment.

During the cruise, the Global Gypsum Awards for 2026 were presented, as voted-for by the global gypsum industry. Georgia Pacific Gypsum won the award for ‘Global Gypsum Company of the year,’ while Gyptech was named as ‘equipment supplier of the year’ for the 11th time. ‘Innovation of the year’ was the ‘safe and accessible stacking line design,’ from Grenzebach, and Plant of the year was National Gypsum’s Eloy plant in Arizona. Gypsum-based product of the year was Knauf’s Diamond Board range of products. Grenzebach was presented with the award for ‘Outstanding contribution to the global gypsum industry.’

A number of sector participants were honoured with the ‘personality of the year’ award, for contributions to sector; Tristan Suffys of Eurogypsum; Jeff Warren from Gyptech; Cemal Ünlü of IPS Makina; and Steve Sucech of Gypsum Process Solutions. To popular acclaim, industry stalwart Andy Foresman of Georgia Pacific Gypsum was awarded the inaugural ‘Lifetime Achievement Award.’ 

Finally, the location for the Global Gypsum Conference 2027 was revealed to be Baveno, near Milan in Italy, on 20-21 October 2027.

Conference second day

Alexander Kronast of BASF and Kent Ward, Sicit, kicked-off the second day of the conference by speaking about how their companies have started using their retarder and accelerator products together. The key dynamic is controlling the hydration curve to slow the process sufficiently for the mixing, spreading and forming of the plaster and then speeding up the setting time in time for the cutting step. When used together, the speakers demonstrated that less of BASF’s accelerator is required, when used with Sicit’s retarder, than when using a standard ball mill accelerator (BMA) additive. Typically, the BASF product achieves the same setting time with half the BMA dosage.


The key point of the presentation of Seyfettin Hizarci of Gunask, was that additives should be tailored for the actual plant - not a theoretical one. His view is that using additives ‘blindly’ without proper measurements is an expensive route to production line stability. Hizarci pointed out that a 0.1% reduction in the water-to-stucco ratio can lead to savings in water and energy used, with a potential saving of €0.5m/yr for a gas-fired line. He asked the audience to consider every variable as an input to be considered including: stucco reactivity; slurry temperature; process water chemistry; mixer shear energy; line speed; the dryer profile; and ambient conditions. From here his recommendation was to measure the range of inputs, determine sensitivity, select additives based on the lowest values recorded and then control the process subsequently by feedback.



Luca Perrone, Lamberti, explained how his company’s additives allow less siloxane to be used in waterproof wallboard standards. The two main products are derived from hydrocolloids found in Guar Gum. Lamberti then uses this to create powder- and liquid-based additives. These can then reduce the amount of siloxane used by up to half. Perrone noted that using these additives has varying effects on plaster viscosity, both thickening and fluidising, and setting times are also lengthened slightly. An audience member commented that Guar Gum is sourced from India and Pakistan and supply issues have been encountered previously.

Bill Poust, Formova, next said that, while wallboard plants are highly automated, handling processes surrounding the main manufacturing lines are not automated. Automated guided vehicles (AVGs) can be used instead of human-driven forklift trucks for finished board transfer, pallet movement, production-line replenishment, empty pallet delivery, scrap movement and more. Guided by magnetic strips, lasers and other sensors, they can stack and retrieve wallboard up to 12 units high, consolidate orders and help with shipping. Bill presented a North American project in which a 20-25Mm2/yr wallboard plant reduced operating costs and increased earnings through the deployment of an AGV system. The payback on investment was three years, with savings of €1.5m across 10 years. Bill mentioned that Formova has a 28-vehicle installation at National Gypsum’s Eloy plant, the newly-named Global Gypsum Plant of the Year for 2026.

Ilayda Güven, MMM Erba Makina, introduced her company’s hybrid dosing system for plaster and wallboard additives that switches between full gravimetric and full volumetric measuring modes. Additives are fed from the top towards a mixing arm that sits above a screw. When vibrations from neighbouring equipment are low (<10Hz), the feeder operates in gravimetric mode, with accuracy within 1.5%. At moderate vibration levels (10-25Hz), the load cells are only accurate 50-80% of the time, so the system uses volumetric readings in addition to gravimetric ones. At high vibration (>25Hz), the gravimetric readings become totally unreliable such that the system switches to volumetric-only mode, described by Ilayda as a ‘fallback position.’ The system has been tested intensively, but is not yet in industrial operation. Partners are currently being sought.

Darran Green, RotaLube, presented his company’s solution to lubrication for wallboard plants. Each of RotaLube’s cog-shaped applicators dispenses lubrication directly to the pin and bush using pressurised air. This is far more accurate than drip-fed systems, which typically add lubricant in excess. Darran discussed the system in the context of recent feedback from the wallboard sector.  This included a 75% reduction in lubricant consumption on a 10 deck dryer with a 32B1 type. Chain life has been more than doubled and the reduction in lubricant use has led to cost savings, and reduced CO2 emissions by 11.3t/yr. Secondary benefits include in health and safety though the avoidance of lubricant on the floor and a near total elimination of fire risks due to uncontrolled lubricant reaching hot surfaces.

Onur Çelik supplied his insights into serving the Turkish gypsum wallboard market with wallboard product development, from his company, China-based fibreglass technologies specialist Nanjing EFG.

Thorsten Koth and Reiner Gnauert of Scrapetech set out best practices in the use of smart technology and predictive maintenance to counteract common gypsum industry problems. For dust and wear, Koth introduced ScrapeTec’s ‘Formula 1-inspired’ contactless skirting products. Following the installation of its AirScrape and DustScrape transfer-point sealing in a fertiliser line, the customer recorded 95% less dust and spillage, and 20% less downtime over a period of three years since installation. Gnauert followed with a detailed methodology of diagnosing belt mistracking, and a solution: ScrapeTec’s PrimeTracker tracking mechanism. Installed at a belt's pulley, it tackles mistracking at its cause to reduce material loss, wear and further component damage.

The penultimate presentation at the conference was given by Andreas Schiele from Gebr. Pfeiffer SE, who spoke about the use of digitalisation and AI on his company’s equipment for gypsum processing, in three main areas: Condition monitoring, online measurement sensors and finally optimisation with AI. GP Link is used for secure, efficient and accessible data monitoring, with all data protected and one-way communication for maximum network security. The GPpro CMS condition monitoring system can be used to prevent failures in mill classifier and bearing system, in the rollers and gearboxes and in the hydraulic tension system. The GPpro OMS online moisture sensor is a new approach to moisture measurement in the mill. Andreas explained that the GPpro AI module increases efficiency and production, by optimising for maximum throughput, operating the mill near its capacity limits while ensuring stable and reliable performance – OR – reducing production costs by optimising for the lowest possible specific energy consumption, again while maintaining high throughout and stable operation. The AI has been trained to adjust tension pressure, fan speed, feed rate and the speed of the grinding bowl (and other parameters) to approach the best operating point to achieve its objective. Even on already optimised mill, AI may increase throughput by 5% and reduce specific power consumption by 4%.

Ettore Giojelli of Fives ITAS completed the presentation programme by speaking about the future heating systems for the gypsum sector. “Heat is the bulk of a plasterboard plant’s energy use – and of its direct CO2,” started Ettore, mainly used in the flash, kettle and impact-mill calciner (high temperature – usually flame), and in board drying (where steady lower temperatures are required). The processes demand wide turndown, uniform temperatures, low NOx and CO, and 24/7 reliability. However, customer demands are chaning: Carbon costs more, energy price volatility is hitting every business, EPDs and low-carbon boards are in demand, and renewable power has its own advantages and challenges. Ettore suggested that the first step is to reduce the amount of energy required, by recovering heat and using heat pumps, and then to supply smartly by using a hybrid system using flame and electricity for heat, but managed as one, with a single power and control board decideding how much power comes from each source. Such a system might use biomethane, hydrogen, syngas or biogas, as well as electricity. In general, the electric section runs at full power, with the burner covering the rest. The break-even price for this approach is when electricity is at €100/MWh, but heavily depending on the price of your gas. Depending on your grid, electric heat may be more or less CO2-intensive than using natural gas – and Ettore said that users should electrify smartly, preferably using a flexible hybrid system that allows users to pivot to the most economic source of energy, which may vary from hour to hour. “Check your grid; the value is in the control; and go step by step,” were Ettore’s three final take-home lessons.

Farewells and prizes

After the conference programme, the delegates gathered for the farewell party and conference awards, based on votes from participants. Third place in the best presentation awards went to Cevdet Karaibrahimolgu of Parget Makina, for his paper on energy-efficient beta-gypsum production, while second place went to Rainer Gnauert and Thorsten Koth of Scrapetech for their presentation on smart technology for dust-free gypsum conveying. However, in first place was Andreas Schieler of Gebr. Pfeiffer for his presentation on digitalisation and AI improvements in gypsum grinding.

According to the delegate questionnaire responses, the event was strongly praised for its excellent organisation, for the size and quality of its exhibition area, and for the great networking and business opportunities afforded at the event.

With a hearty ‘Bon voyage,’ the delegates agreed to meet again at the 25^th Global Gypsum Conference and Exhibition on 20 - 21 October 2027 in Baveno, near Milan, Italy.