Gypsum industry news

Canada/US: Saint-Gobain has acquired exterior building materials company Kaycan for US$928m. After the closing of the transaction in 2022, Kaycan’s US distribution arm will undergo divestiture to a third party. Kaycan currently employs 1300 people at 12 sites in Canada and the US. Saint-Gobain noted that the acquisition will complement its leadership in Canada, expanding its light and sustainable construction solutions offering in that market.

Canada: Saint-Gobain has shared plans to install a US$3.19m waste heat recovery (WHR) system at its Vancouver gypsum wallboard plant in British Columbia. It has secured US$1.12m in funding from the provincial government’s CleanBC Industry Fund for the project. The producer says that the installation will increase the plant’s energy efficiency and reduce its CO₂ emission by 10%.

Saint-Gobain said “This project will help our company to maximise our positive impact for our customers and the communities where we do business, while minimising our environmental footprint. We thank the CleanBC programme for its support, and look forward to many more years of sustainable, state-of-the-art manufacturing in Vancouver.”

Canada: Irving Wallboard is preparing to rejoin the local gas distribution network near to its plant at Saint John in New Brunswick. The company has been offered a special low rate as an incentive to return, according to the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation. In an interview Gilles Volpé, the vice-president of Liberty Utilities, the operator of New Brunswick's gas distribution network, said that these kinds of arrangements sometimes occurred with industrial end users. The proposed deal would see it use at least 600,000GJ/yr of gas making the wallboard producer Liberty Utilities’s largest customer.

The company, which also operates under the name Atlantic Wallboard, was previously the largest individual customer on New Brunswick's public gas distribution system but it left in 2015 in a pricing dispute. It then switched to using compressed gas delivered by truck.

An application has been made to the New Brunswick Energy and Utilities Board and a full hearing into the proposal is scheduled for April 2022.

US: Canada-based Building materials recycling equipment supplier TORXX Kinetic Pulverizer has launched TORXX Kinetic, a new wholly owned subsidiary. The company’s headquarters are in Chattanooga, Tennessee. TORXX Kinetic Pulverizer chose the location in order to be closer to its customer base.

Vice president Terri Ward said that in 2021 “Covid-19 pandemic-related travel restrictions hindered growth, with our North American headquarters in Canada and most of our customers and new opportunities in the US.” Ward continued “We are maintaining a presence in Toronto with engineering and service resources. However, key personnel and new hires are now in the US, making it much easier to collaborate and respond to customer needs. We were attracted to the Scenic City because of its favourable manufacturing and transportation resources, proximity to our customers, and its appeal to our valued employees.”

TORXX Kinetic Pulverizer’s kinetic pulveriser is a waste processing technology which relies on aerodynamics and matter-on-matter collisions for particle size reduction. Vortices agitate feedstock, causing more brittle material to shatter while less brittle material remains larger. This size differential facilitates the liberation and mechanical separation of contaminants.

US: The US Geological Survey (USGS) has reported a 13% year-on-year increase in national calcined gypsum production in the first half of 2021 to 9.57Mt from 8.5Mt in the first half of 2020. The country’s gypsum mines produced 10.1Mt of natural gypsum, down by 3.8% from 10.48Mt in 2021. Synthetic gypsum production remained in line with first-half 2020 levels at 7.2Mt. In total, the US exported 17,900t of natural and synthetic gypsum, up by 8.2% from 16,600t. It exported 49,000t of calcined gypsum, up by 10% from 44,500t.

In the second quarter of 2021, the US exported gypsum wallboard to 29 other countries. Volumes totalled 19Mm2, up by 40% year-on-year. Canada accounted for 95% of gypsum wallboard exports. The US imported 20.9Mm2 of gypsum wallboard during the quarter, up by 54% year-on-year. All imports came from Mexico and Canada, of which Mexico supplied 16.7Mm2 (85%).

Canada: Dalhousie University, in collaboration with the Canada and US joint Gypsum Association and Divert NS, has entered Phase 2 of its research project into uses of construction and demolition waste gypsum in concrete. The research, continuing until September 2023, will test the durability of various concrete mixes containing gypsum powder recycled from waste drywall. It will examine 81 specimens under three environmental exposures and three exposure durations. The team will use the results to understand the performance and environmental benefits of concrete containing recycled gypsum over the life of a structures. Study leader and Canada research chair in sustainable infrastructure Pedram Sadeghian said that Phase 1 of the study had demonstrated that gypsum could be a viable supplementary cementing material when combined with fly ash in concrete.

Sadeghain said “Our research group aims to study the durability of concrete containing recycled gypsum by monitoring compressive strength and potential expansion after exposure to selected environmental conditions, such as moisture and salt particle penetration, that are common to concrete structures exposed to the environment.”

Gypsum Association executive director Stephen Meima said “The gypsum industry is committed to landfill diversion of construction and demolition gypsum panel waste, and Professor Sadeghian’s work demonstrates that waste gypsum panels may have value beyond their service life in buildings and homes.”

Canada: The Gypsum Association has partnered with Divert NS to support research at Dalhousie University into the use of recycled gypsum from construction waste in concrete production. Dalhousie University previously demonstrated that gypsum could be a viable supplementary cementitious material when combined with fly ash in concrete. In this second phase of research, the team aims to expand on the work to optimise concrete production methods and product quality.

Canada research chair in sustainable infrastructure Pedram Sadeghian said “As durability is important for construction materials, our research group at Dalhousie University aims to study the durability of concrete containing recycled gypsum by monitoring the compressive strength and potential expansion after exposure to selected environmental conditions such as moisture and salt particle penetration that are common for concrete structures exposed to the environment.”

Gypsum Association executive director Stephen Meima said “We are very pleased to join Divert NS in supporting research that may improve numerous environmental outcomes. The gypsum industry is committed to landfill diversion of construction and demolition gypsum panel waste, and Professor Sadeghian’s work demonstrates that waste gypsum panels may have value beyond their service life in buildings and homes.”

Canada: The Canadian Gypsum Company (CGC) has temporarily closed part of its wallboard plant in Hagarsville in Ontario due to a coronavirus outbreak amongst its employees. Around half of the 250-strong workforce at the site has been sent home, according to the Norfolk & Tillsonburg News. The plant’s mine has also been closed. The company said it had acted "out of an abundance of caution" and it is working with local health services.

Spain: Saint-Gobain Placo has sent its first load of gypsum for 2021 to Montréal in Canada. The shipment consisted of 80,000t of natural gypsum from the company’s Almería quarry. It said that it previously expanded port facilities at Almería to facilitate shipments of this kind. It added that the shipment ‘consolidates the Almería-Montréal trade route,’ supporting the positioning of the Port of Almería as a strategic axis in international maritime trade.

Canada: ScoZinc says that it has increased the gypsum resources at its Scotia mine project in Nova Scotia following a mineral resource estimate. The site has total measured and indicated gypsum mineral resources of 5.18Mt at a grade of 91.8%. Further inferred gypsum resources of 0.79Mt have been recorded at a grade of 91%. The company says that the project has a mining recovery rate of 95% and a cost of US$2/t for gypsum.