Gypsum industry news

UAE: The wallboard recycling unit at Saint-Gobain Gyproc’s Abu Dhabi gypsum wallboard plant has processed 22,000t of gypsum since 2014, the L'Usine Nouvelle newspaper has reported. The producer said that the Abu Dhabi plant can incorporate 10 – 12% recycled materials in its gypsum wallboard production. It runs on a diversified energy supply, which in its most recent recorded month included 55% nuclear, 38% natural gas and 7% solar energy.

In 2023, Saint-Gobain reduced its non-recycled waste by 78% year-on-year and its water footprint by 14% from 2017 levels in the UAE.

Members of Eurogypsum, the European Gypsum Association, gathered at the Les Atelier des Tanneurs in Brussels on 27 - 28 April 2022 to formally celebrate the 60th Anniversary of their association, despite a delay of 12 months due to Covid restrictions. Over two days, they participated in meetings and panel sessions reminiscent of pre-pandemic times. Attending the Open Congress session on 28 April 2022, Global Gypsum found the event to be very dynamic and surprisingly open.

The Open Congress began with welcomes from the moderator, Knauf Insulation’s Sian Hughes and outgoing Eurogypsum President Emmanuel Normant, of Saint-Gobain. He introduced the past 60 years as one of ‘enormous change’ for the sector, but this was not meant to be a retrospective. Turning to the next 60 years, Normant said that gypsum’s inherent benefits, including its low embodied CO₂ emissions, recyclability, high degree of safety and ease of use, would make it even more crucial to global development in the future than in the past.

A series of quick-fire presentations from the industry’s big hitters then highlighted a wide range of ways to increase the sustainability of our sector.

Saint-Gobain’s Klaus Birk introduced Gyproc's project to switch its Fredrikstad wallboard plant in Norway to use a 100% electric wallboard production process by 2023. This will use renewable energy, predominantly sourced from hydroelectric power, and lead to a 70% drop in CO₂ emissions. This approach could be applicable to any wallboard plant with access to sufficient renewable power.

Knauf's Jörg Demmich then spoke about a project to extract gypsum from the ‘waste’ from the lithium production process. Even the best lithium ores only contain 3 - 6% lithium by mass, leaving 94 - 97% currently unused. As electric mobility grows, by-product gypsum from the lithium sector could partly offset the expected fall in flue-gas desulphurisation (FGD) gypsum supplies.

Iryna Yermakova introduced the Etex Group's approach to the wallboard plant of the future. One area she highlighted was the potential for prefabrication at the wallboard plant before panels reach the job site. This has the potential, on some projects, to save up to 10% of the wallboard cost, transport cost and CO₂ emissions of the board used. Surely a quick win for contractors.

Nikolai Halle from Cobuilder introduced the Define tool, freely-available to the construction sector. Define will act like the Swift payment system, but for sustainability data instead of financial data. This would unify different sustainability metrics to cut through the confusing terms used by producers and reveal the 'real' performance of different products, rather than how effectively their attributes are marketed.

The keynote presentation, from the former European Commissioner for the Environment Janez Potočnik – ‘The Father of the Circular Economy’ - then highlighted why innovation is key, not only to the future of the gypsum sector, but to the planet itself. At current rates, the mass of man-made material will be three times larger than all biomass by 2040.

To avoid this, Potočnik argued that the entire economy needs to become service-based, rather than product-based. Under such a model, wallboard producers would become part of the ‘building envelope services sector’ rather than selling wallboard. The desire is then to sell wallboard with a long service life, that can be repurposed and recycled, rather than selling ever-increasing volumes of board.Taking this approach across the entire economy would help society to maximise gross domestic product while reducing environmental impacts, eventually decoupling them from each other entirely. Potočnik concluded that nature is already the 'perfect' circular economy. Humans just need to reintegrate into it.

To say that the panel discussion that followed was ‘lively’ would be an understatement. Member of the European Parliament Iskra Mihaylova, speaking the day after Russia halted gas supplies to her native Bulgaria, said that talk of energy independence and solidarity was 'not enough' and that Europe needed to act on the European Union Green Deal, particularly with a view to energy and resource efficiency and security.

Josefina Lindblom, the European Commission’s Policy Officer for Sustainable Buildings for Circular Economy, introduced what she hoped would become the next buzzword: ‘sufficiency’ - properly taking pause to consider what is truly required of new buildings. This includes the need to apply full circularity to renovation projects.

Adrian Joyce, from the European Alliance of Companies for Energy Efficiency in Buildings, asked the audience to think not in terms of 'energy efficiency,' but 'conservation of energy.' The two terms are subtly different, with the latter akin to ‘sufficiency.' Both point to the need to reduce the use of resources, not just the effectiveness which we use increasing amounts of resources.

Tristan Suffys, Secretary General of Eurogypsum, said that gypsum is well suited to fit into the low-CO₂, low-resource-use sector of the future. He called for re-use of derelict buildings, re-purposing and optimising the use of space by building above existing buildings.

The Open Congress drew to a close with a speech by the incoming President of Eurogypsum (and Head of Corporate Social Responsibility at Etex) Jörg Ertle. He told Eurogypsum members that the 'doors' marked 'Green Deal,' 'Decarbonisation,' and 'Recycling' were all 'open' and that they should be making the most of the opportunities behind each. From Global Gypsum’s perspective, it seems that they have burst through each of the doors into the rooms behind. Some are even measuring up for wallboard.

In conclusion, it appears that the European wallboard sector is at the start of a major increase in sustainability efforts. This will be backed by politicians who are keen to decouple their economies from Russia’s and a public that is increasingly asking for change. And, with three major global producers - Knauf, Saint-Gobain and Etex - based in Europe, between them sharing 47% of the world’s wallboard capacity, we can expect to see these innovations spread to other regions rapidly.

Here’s to the next 60 years!

Ireland: France-based Saint-Gobain subsidiary Gyproc has applied to the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) to have its sulphate discharge licence for its Drummond, County Monaghan, mine increased by 530% to 1250mg/l from 200mg/l. The Irish Independent newspaper has reported that the higher level ‘would not occur year-round,’ according to the company, but ‘only at certain times.’ The EPA is ‘awaiting additional information from the applicant in order to make a decision.’

UK: Saint-Gobain subsidiary British Gypsum has announced the removal of customer Gyproc gypsum plasterboard allocations with the resumption of normal distribution of its flagship product on order for up to next day delivery. The company said that capacity increases in 2019 solved its supply issue. “The level of effort, innovation and ingenuity that has gone into improving our supply capability has been significant,” said British Gypsum managing director Matt Pullen. “We go into 2020 with renewed confidence and positivity.”

UAE: French-based Saint-Gobain Gyproc’s Habito gypsum wallboard has received the Green Product of the Year Award at the Middle East and North Africa Green Building Awards for setting standards in environmentally friendly production. Saint-Gobain says that sustainability is at the core of its long-term strategy.

Ireland: Gyproc has confirmed that it did not carry out subsidence monitoring on a disused County Monaghan gypsum mine which subsided in September 2018, damaging community buildings and sports fields. The company revised its position on the checks after a ‘fresh and detailed analysis of records’ following an investigation by the Irish Independent. The newspaper reported that, having recorded a slowing of subsidence to millimetres per year, the company decided that six monthly monitoring, the norm in the area according to the Department of Communications, Climate Action and the Environment, was unnecessary.

Gyproc’s activities further caused a road to fall into a sinkhole in December 2018.

The subsidiary of Saint-Gobain has applied to install an open cast mine on a site including that of the erstwhile popular sports facility.

Ireland: Gyproc has launched what it says is the country’s first wallboard recycling service at its Kingscourt plant in County Cavan. The subsidiary of Saint-Gobain hopes to recycle 0.5Mt of wallboard by 2028. It has spent Euro1.5m on the upgrade to the plant and it has increased the number of employees to 220.

“We’re very proud to be the first and only plasterboard manufacturer in the country to offer recycling of our products on the island,” said Brian Dolan, Managing Director of Gyproc. “As a market leader in this sector we are determined to be at the forefront of innovation in new products and services, and in the sustainability and environmental benefits of those services.” The manufacturer sources gypsum from its Drummond mine in County Monaghan.

Finland: Construction materials manufacturer Saint-Gobain has transferred some of the manufacturing of Gyproc Habito wallboard from the UK to Kirkkonummi in Finland. Deliveries from Kirkkonummi started at the beginning of 2017. Habito products are exported from Kirkkonummi to the Baltic and the Nordic countries.

The company has invested Euro1m in Gyproc Habito production at its Kirkkonummi site in 2017. Investments have been made in the laboratory, product development, personnel training and the production line. Virpi Riekkinen, Business Director at Saint-Gobain Finland, expects further investments to be made in 2018. Gyproc Habito accounts for roughly 10% of the production of the Kirkkonummi factory. The company expects to recruit around five new employees for the Kirkkonummi site in 2018.

Sweden: Gyproc Saint-Gobain has commissioned a new Claudius Peters type EM 65-592 grinding and drying mill, to be installed at its Gyproc Balsta plant.

The project, which includes dismantling of the existing mill and erection of the new one within a six-week time frame, uses Claudius Peters' newly developed hydraulic tensioning system for adjustment of grinding pressure. This system, installed here for the very first time, has been specially developed to optimize the efficiency of the grinding and drying processes and also to aid maintenance.

"This new EM drying and grinding mill, representing the very latest in technology from Claudius Peters, delivers unprecedented levels of efficiency and precision. We are delighted to be partnering with Gyproc Saint-Gobain in this project," said Stephan Oehme, sales director for Claudius Peters.

Commissioning of the new mill is planned for the middle of July 2016.

Sweden: Gyproc has awarded a contract to Claudius Peters Projects for the supply of a gypsum grinding and drying mill type EM 65-592. The mill will be installed at the Gyproc Balsta plant in Sweden. The contract was signed in October 2015.

The scope of supply includes the dismantling of the existing mill as well as the supply and erection of a new mill, including all connections to the existing periphery. A special challenge for this project is the tight schedule for the dismantling and erection of the equipment, within six weeks. Additionally, Claudius Peters Projects' newly-developed hydraulic tensioning system to adjust the grinding pressure will be installed for the first time.

Commissioning is planned for middle of July 2016.