11th Global Gypsum Conference, Exhibition and Awards 2011
17-18 October, Las Vegas, US
Review by conference convenor Dr Robert McCaffrey
The 11th Global Gypsum Conference and Exhibition took place at the Caesars Palace hotel in Las Vegas, USA, on 17-18 October 2011, with 280 delegates from 30 different countries in attendance as well as 26 international exhibitors.
11th Global Gypsum Conference 2011 image gallery
Welcome party and first day
The event started with a very popular welcome party in the Global Gypsum exhibition area, which featured an appearance from the King himself: Elvis Presley (or at least someone who looked a lot like him). Chocolate-dipped bacon, one of Presley’s favourite snacks, was available at the welcome party.
On the first morning of the conference itself, delegates met for networking before assembling for the first of 15 presentations. Bob Bruce of Innogyps Inc started off by saying that there has been some bad news from the gypsum industry and that there may be more in the future, but that we have to try and make a good business despite the tough times. There is now the threat of a ‘double dip’ and there has been a move from banks going bankrupt, to countries potentially going bankrupt. One of the big players in the gypsum business, Lafarge, has decided that it wants to (or is obliged to) get out of the gypsum business. The reason is that they had a lot of debts and they needed to sell something that was still valuable: gypsum was deemed to be ‘non-core.’
Bob pointed out that half of the world is mature and that the rest is developing and remains a good market for building materials and for equipment producers. Africa is too poor yet to be a good market for wallboard - but when economic growth arrives, markets will begin to take off.
Lafarge’s north American plants are great assets, but Bob says that it is going to be very tough to make money in the US for the foreseeable future. Housing starts are only going to climb slowly, GDP growth is weak, as is consumer confidence, unemployment is stubbornly high and wallboard pricing is resolutely weak. USG’s pricing has been very poor, not only due to weakness in demand but also due to the massive overcapacity in the industry. Bob pointed out that you can try to innovate to increase your margins and you can try to control your channels to market to retain your margins, but it is tough in a competitive market. The industry needs to achieve in the region of 85% capacity utilisation to be able to push through prices rises, rather than the 55% level that we are at right now. More plants need to be closed for the industry to start to make money again. But perhaps we have too many companies, rather than too many plants. Consolidation is obviously a way out of the industry’s woes. Leveraging a company’s expertise into growing markets may also be a way to improve margins.
Bob Bruce’s advice was to continue to reduce costs, to run low cost plants at full capacity if possible, to innovate, to find ways to influence the price point and to secure margins, to use excess resources in growth markets. “Those that wait for ‘normal’ to return may become extinct,” was Bob’s sobering parting shot.
Rob Crangle of the USGS next spoke on gypsum trends in the US since 1900. The USGS compiles statistics on US and world gypsum trade and shipments, but less than 20% of the world’s gypsum production enters into the international trade. Rob pointed out that US gypsum demand had declined dramatically from the peak in 2007, but that it has bottomed out and that there is a reasonable prospect of an increase in 2011. Americans’ income is not expected to rebound to its pre-boom level by 2020.
The next speaker, Terry Weaver, started in the gypsum recycling business when, as a farmer, he recognised the need for agricultural gypsum. He started out processing scraps from a residential building project in 1997 and in 2012 will recycle around 30,000t of gypsum. Terry suggests that at least 20% of wallboard is wasted during construction: of the 14.1Mt of wallboard produced in the US, the vast majority is landfilled, even though 89% could be recycled. The highest rates of recycling are attained if the gypsum is separated from other products immediately - when it is co-mingled with other products, it become a lot more difficult to recycle. Terry said that telling the contractors to throw it onto a pile on the ground actually worked well: his company could then control what it came and collected, even if the moisture level is higher than otherwise. Wallboard does not well survive the mechanical reclamation from mixed construction and demolition (C&D) waste. Terry’s company produces agricultural products, for use on soil, or as an animal ‘comfort enhancer.’ Recycled gypsum competes against FGD gypsum in a number of markets, especially since there is the region of 9Mt of FGD in the US that is produced but not used. Terry has tried adding his recycled gypsum product to concrete, with resulting increased strength, low cracking and lower costs. He feels optimistic about the future market for these ‘green’ materials, even in tough economic times.
Dustin Neumann of Neumann Process Control Inc. next gave a fascinating paper on how to operate a wallboard dryer at lower throughput while maintaining quality and reducing costs. Minimising stratification in the dryer is the first step, which can be attained through installing dampers or air mixing devices. He also strongly recommended the use of an automated moisture measurement system, such as supplied by Sensortec. Deck speed optimisation is critical to quality, while inter-zone exhaust exchange is also important. Maximising dryer ‘agility’ is crucial, by reducing thermal inertia and either increasing the capacity for thermal turndown or increasing cooling capacity. Dustin pointed out that dryers should be operated according to the decks that produce either the driest or the wettest boards (not the average or random boards). He suggested that a single person should be assigned to optimise the dryer and that not only should they be trained in all aspects of dryer operation, but that they should also have the authority to ensure that it is operated effectively. Critically, the reasons for producing defective boards should be ruthlessly tracked down and eliminated.
Ryan Holbird of Grenzebach spoke on ‘how to conduct a wallboard symphony’ - making all equipment in a wallboard plant play beautifully together. Dryer rebuilds and upgrades can lead to a 25% saving in energy cost. Ryan also suggested that gypsum producers might usefully leverage their expertise in building materials and markets in other industries, such as in fibreboard, ceiling tiles or in insulation. Solar-thermal systems can also be used to decrease operating costs in the wallboard industry.
Stuart Manser of BetaLaserMike then spoke on non-contact measurement of board length and speed of wallboard production. Traditional length measurement is made with a roller that generates electrical pulses which are sent to the cutter, but this technique has a number of disadvantages, generally caused by roller slippage. The roller has to be calibrated and can also cause damage to the board. Laser Doppler Velocimetry technology was developed in the 1980s for the aluminium and steel mills and is accurate to within 0.05%, with no moving parts and no calibration. This can lead to decreased scrap and material reprocessing. The digital output can also be used to accurately control the cutting knife.
Bernd Lübbert of Claudius Peters, who was born in 1966 - the year England won the World Cup, gave details on how to correctly chose the right packing machine for gypsum. According to the material characteristics, the material can be filled either by the turbine filling method or the air filling method. Following further testing of filling characteristics, you can confidently choose the correct system with additional optimised modules for bag application, filling, weighing and bag sealing.
Gala dinner and Global Gypsum Awards
The Gala Dinner took place at the Sandy Valley Ranch, out in the desert south of Las Vegas. This real working ranch was the venue for a memorable evening of steer-roping, hatchet-tossing, mustang-riding, beer-drinking, bean-chowing and quick-drawing cowboy and cowgirl fun, with many delegates taking the opportunity to ‘dress Western.’
The Global Gypsum Awards were presented during the evening. Etex was presented with the ‘Global Gypsum company of the year’ award, while the supplier of the year award went to Gyptech. Global Gypsum ‘Product of the year’ was awarded to USG’s UltraLight Sheetrock panels and the ‘plant of the year’ award went to Boral’s Pinkenba plant, for its environmental efforts. The special award for the Global Gypsum ‘Personality of the year’ went to industry stalwart and all-round gentleman Al Mueller of Pabco Gypsum.
Second day
Michael Gardner of the US Gypsum Association started off with an affirmation of the flat nature of the North American wallboard markets, but moved on to look at the US EPA’s proposal to regulate coal combustion byproducts (CCBs). Around 150 different products - including FGD gypsum - are produced using CCBs. Around half of the wallboard in the US is made using FGD gypsum, predominantly in the east of the country, but probably 75% of all board has at least some FGD in it. All CCBs are regulated as a solid waste, under the 1976 Resource Conservation Recovery Act, but through an amendment, CCBs have escaped harsh legislation. Until, that is, December 2008, when one billion gallons of ash slurry was spilled from the Kingston lagoon. The US EPA has now received 400,000 comments on their new proposals for regulation of coal combustion byproducts. The EPA’s suggestion to categorise CCBs as hazardous or ‘special’ waste would create a lot of issues, but there has been some support for the suggestion that states should be allowed to regulate CCBs. The Gypsum Association strenuously pointed out to the EPA that FGD gypsum is different from all the other CCBs, in that it is manufactured and used as a pure raw material. The association called for a total exemption for FGD gypsum. The US EPA is mulling its response. Michael Gardner pointed out that uncertainty will continue despite the fact that regulations are likely to be promulgated in 2012: whatever happens, it will probably all end up in court, with industry and environmentalists suing the EPA, but for different reasons.
Alfred Brosig, speaking as a private individual, next delivered a presentation on the ‘problem board’ situation in the US in 2009. Early on, hydrogen sulphide was identified as a principal odiferous component of the problem wallboard from China. Often the boards, which typically had a high moisture content, had been kept in storage for months at elevated temperatures waiting for permission to enter the US, gave off strong odours on first usage.
Alfred pointed out that a lot of hogwash has been talked out the problem, with the finger pointing at many incorrect reasons, including the use of phosphogypsum or even the incorrectly suggested presence of excrement in the boards.
Sulphate reducing bacterial (SRBs) are known to be able to metabolise sulphate by dissimilatory respiration in anaerobic conditions (which requires the presence of liquid water to solve sulphate from gypsum) and are among the oldest lifeforms on the planet. They produce hydrogen sulphide as their main metabolic byproduct. Organic food for such bacteria in wallboard includes cellulose, starch, sugar and lignosulphonates.
Alfred pointed out that variations in diurnal temperatures, combined with high moisture levels - particularly in Florida and the southeast US - can cause condensation under the plastic wrapping of boards (from any manufacturer). Condensate under the wrap migrates into the plasterboard stack by hydrostatic forces, providing liquid water to solve sulphate from gypsum that allows the ubiquitous SRBs to feast on organic compunds in the board and to produce hydrogen sulphide as a byproduct.
Alfred showed his calculations that condensation would also take place on the outside surface of wallboard, due to the air conditioning in the house making the surface cooler than the dew point. He suggested that hydrogen sulphide produced by the SRBs is dissolved in the condensate to form hydro-sulphuric acid, which can cause then corrosion in wiring and other fittings in the house (eg the evaporator coil in AC-systems) where the board was installed. There was intense discussion after this interesting presentation.
At the start of a trio of gypsum modification papers, Maurizio Bellotto of Italian company Giovanni Bozzetto S.p.A. pointed out that anything in the solution from which the gypsum crystals grow will influence the final morphology of the crystals. Small crystals could be caused by the presence of potassium and twins in the presence of sodium. Organic molecules such as phosphonic retarders can cause morphology disruptions, while the presence of lignosulphonates can cause small, thick crystals. Needle-like gypsum crystals lock together with each other and with the paper fibres to give a board its strength. Faster setting times and insufficient free water will lead to shorter crystals. A series of different additives can be used to modify board properties, including accelerators, retarders, siloxanes and other chemicals. Dispersants can reduce the amount of water which is required to create a flowable slurry, but this can lead to an increase in slurry temperature. Calcium naphthalene sulphonate is commonly used as a dispersant and does not influence retardation, but it has been questioned due to its formaldehyde content, even though the polymer is stable and does not depolymerise even in harsh conditions. Maurizio stated that by reducing the excess formaldehyde in the production of the chemical, it is possible to eliminate it from the final additive, without negatively affecting its properties. Since there is a strong trend towards formaldehyde-free building materials, this can give a competitive advantage.
Dr Michael Schinabeck of BASF Construction Polymers next pointed out that the American trend towards lighter weight boards challenges the core strength of boards. He pointed out the advantages and disadvantages of a number of different superplasticisers and concluded that phosphate containing dispersants (PCDs) have, on balance, the best combination of properties. He pointed out that foam-generating additives must be tested with real-world gypsum and must give reproducible results. Laboratory results show that the use of fatty alcohol sulphate surfactants can increase compressive strength by 144%. The foam-producing technology allows fine control of the structure of pores with a given soap chemistry. Computer tomography and use of modelling concepts can further optimise bubble structure to give the highest possible compressive strengths for wallboard. He stated that the highest compressive strengths are achieved in boards with homogeneously-sized medium-sized bubbles.
Markus Müller of Sika Services next introduced advanced additive solutions for controlling set times during gypsum board production. The challenge was to retard the setting of the stucco until after it exits from the mixer (so that the mixer does not eventually become clogged and so that there is no ‘lumpy’ nucleation), but without altering other board properties. ‘Snap set’ retards initial setting by a few seconds and brings forward the final set by perhaps a minute, so that the board is fully set by the time it arrives at the knife. Retardant 200L is a retarder that can achieve this plaster crystallisation performance. Retarders can increase slump flow and in this way can reduce water content in the slurry. BMA (ball mill accelerator, or finely ground gypsum) can be used as an accelerator, to provide nucleation sites. The new retarders allows the reduction of formulation costs, keeps the mixer clean, allows an increase in line speed and is also compatible with both FGD and natural gypsum. It is applicable in neutral or in slightly alkaline conditions and the retarder is soluble in water for easy dosing.
Herbert Rossetto and co-authors from Inovamat of Brazil next introduced a new high strength gypsum. Inovamat keeps to near stoichiometric water addition, alongside high-pressure moulding, to create ‘newgypsum’ with high compressive strength. The boards so produced can be used both inside and outside (at least when they are painted). Boards made with Brazilian phosphogypsum have been shown to be safe with regards to gamma exposure and radon levels. The company has developed gypsum blocks which have such high dimensional stability that they require very little mortar to fit together. The low cost of the products mean that they can economically be used for low cost housing. Inovamat is active in licensing the technology with third parties.
Dr Nitsa Galili of Pazkar Ltd of Israel next spoke about a breakthrough in synthetic wax emulsions. The company produces wax emulsions for waterproofing boards: the company’s first development goal was to overcome shortages in natural wax which had increased prices; a new synthetic wax emulsion would also reduce cost through lower consumption rates, while a new emulsion should also improve production processes. Emulsions consist of two immiscible liquids which have been stabilised to form a colloid so that they do not separate. Nitsa stated that wax emulsions are simple to apply to production lines and allow a water absorption level of below 5% to be achieved and she also suggested that wax emulsions do not disbar a board from being recycled. Pazkar’s new development overcomes the barrier of formulating synthetic wax into a new wax emulsion and performs in similar fashion to traditional montan wax emulsions.
The final presentation at the conference was given by Randy Zieber, the owner of the Neolithic Stone Company, which supplies stone from around the world to carvers from around the world. Alabaster, the sculptor’s name for carvable gypsum rock, has been carved for centuries, with some pieces attaining the status of high art in the European Middle Ages. Utah, Colorado and New Mexico are the biggest producing states in the US. Randy mentioned that one gypsum quarry manager was introduced to carving around 20 years ago and has producer 5-600 pieces, many of which have been bought back by the company as corporate gifts.
After the final presentation there was a discussion session, which covered a number of topics, including the difficulty of recruitment into the moribund US wallboard industry; the possibility of a ‘hard landing’ in China and its effects on the rest of the world, the effects on large FGD-based wallboard plants of EPA regulation and energy inflation and likely trends for innovation in boards (including moves towards even lighter weights and the incorporation of novel properties such as increased thermal resistance). There was also some discussion about the possibility of setting up a Global Gypsum Association.
Farewell party and awards
The popular Farewell Party took the form of a casino evening, where the guests were issued with ‘Global Gypsum Dollars’ and were challenged to increase their stake money on the gaming tables. Most delegates quickly lost everything, but some amassed a fortune in (worthless) plastic casino chips.
During the evening, the ‘best presentation’ awards were awarded, based on delegate voting and on the number of delegates in each session. Bob Bruce’s presentation was a popular fourth place finisher, while Dustin Neumann’s paper on dryer optimisation was third. Michael Gardner of the Gypsum Association was second for his paper on trends in coal combustion byproduct regulation. However, the award for the best presentation went to Dr Michael Schinabeck of BASF (pictured left) for his paper on the use of additives to modify wallboard core structure. Grenzebach was presented with the ‘best exhibition stand’ prize.
Despite the depressed status of the US and North American gypsum industry, many exhibitors expressed their surprise in the strength of visitor interest in doing business in the short to medium term. It seems that many gypsum companies expect demand to increase from its admittedly low base and are investing now. Following the ‘Chinese drywall’ problem, there is now bound to be an increased focus on quality control in the industry both from domestic producers and from importers. Through the conference it became clear that both equipment producers and gypsum and wallboard producers will need to look abroad for strong growth opportunities in the future.
With this in mind, the venue for the 12th Global Gypsum Conference and Exhibition was announced, for Istanbul in October 2012. Istanbul was a popular choice with delegates for a number of reasons: easy to get to from around the world; on the cross-roads of where ‘east meets west’ and likely to attract delegates from the Middle East, North Africa, Europe, Asia and from Russia; Turkey is home to a large and active gypsum industry of its own; Istanbul is an exotic but reasonably-priced city that is attractive to potential visitors.
Delegates from Erisim Makina, a Turkish equipment supllier, were delighted with the choice of venue for 2012, and are pictured right.
As delegates dispersed from the event to 30 countries around the world, we all agreed to meet again, in Istanbul!
