Gypsum industry news

One can tell that gypsum wallboard is a popular product because companies keep trying to devise alternatives to it. A recent one is Breathaboard. The company making it, Adaptavate, announced in August 2023 that it had generated around Euro2.3m in its latest investment round. It is building a pilot production line in Bristol in the UK and attempting to licence its Breathaboard product, amongst other plans. Its take on wallboard is being marketed as a sustainable substitute that is made from crop waste, that sequesters CO₂ and that then can be composted at the end of its life. It is also promoting the product’s breathability and moisture buffering capabilities, hence the name.

Another new contender hoping to steal some of the gypsum wallboard market is Xeriant’s Nexaboard product. This one uses plastic waste as its alternative to gypsum. Florida-based Xeriant said in July 2023 that it had started to buy equipment and raw materials, was running pilot production and was testing its first samples. It too is working on getting its product used in pilot construction projects.

Both of these examples, and others over the years, have taken a pop at wallboard’s sustainability credentials. Adaptavate is rather quieter about what happens to all of that sequestered CO₂ when its product is composted and Xeriant does not mention the environmental impact of making the plastic it uses in the first place. Yet, it is a valid question to ask how sustainable is gypsum wallboard? This column has covered issues with the supply of raw gypsum from either natural, synthetic or recycled sources previously, so we will stick to the general picture here.

The late-lamented consultant Bob Bruce pulled together data from various studies for the Global Gypsum Conference in 2019 to estimate the CO₂ emissions from wallboard production. He estimated that the global average of CO₂ production by wallboard was around 2.4kg/m², equating to 24Mt/yr of CO₂ for the global wallboard industry. For reference, it is estimated by the Center for International Climate and Environmental Research - Oslo (CICERO) that the process emissions from clinker production alone released around 1.6Gt/yr of CO₂ in 2022. When compared by mass (as opposed to area) to other building materials, wallboard has a lower carbon intensity than many products such as glass, cement (made from clinker), plastics, steel and plywood. Timber, concrete and brick are all better than wallboard though. However, as Bruce pointed out, a lot more concrete is manufactured than wallboard. Bruce came up with a handful of suggestions for how wallboard production could reduce its CO₂ emissions such as the reduction of slurry water, local delivery, co-generation, increasing drying efficiency and so on.

The two big sustainability trends from the sector over the last year have been the drive to support higher recycling rates of gypsum and a move towards ‘greener’ sources of energy. This can be seen in the growing use of electrical energy from renewable sources such as the production of net zero CO₂ gypsum wallboard at Saint-Gobain’s Fredrikstad plant in Norway from April 2023. The group’s Montreal plant looks set to follow in 2024 following an upgrade, potentially making it the first net zero wallboard plant in North America. Chiyoda-Ute in Japan has also started using renewably-sourced electricity at its plants in Japan, but it is uncertain what other energy sources these sites are using. China-based BNBM also claimed in its half-year results that it had built four “nearly zero emission” gypsum board production lines in the reporting period.

Wallboard's market position in North America, Europe and elsewhere seems secure. However, it is in dynamic tension as it is both a potential replacement for more carbon intensive building materials and it could also be susceptible to new emerging products that can improve on its own emissions. The manufacturers of Breathaboard and Nexaboard are clearly hoping for the latter. Yet, as is often pointed out, giving more market share to wallboard from other common building materials could reduce CO₂ emissions from construction massively. The diversification of traditional heavy building materials companies such as Holcim into light building materials in recent years suggests that some businesses are seriously preparing for this possibility. No doubt, if global wallboard usage does start to rise significantly, the pressure will grow to make wallboard more sustainable and to devise even more alternative board products.

New Zealand: Winstone Wallboards has started despatching wallboard produced at its new Tauranga plant around New Zealand’s North Island. General manager David Thomas said that GIB wallboard products made in the new plant had achieved performance levels consistent with those of wallboard made in the company’s Auckland and Christchurch plants. Earlier in August 2023, Ross Taylor, the chief executive officer of Fletcher Building, Winstone Wallboards’ parent company, said that the Tauranga plant had commenced production. The site is scheduled to become fully operational by the end of October 2023.

New Zealand: Fletcher Building has managed to grow its earnings for its Building Products division in its 2023 financial year despite a weakened residential market in the second half of the year, poor weather and rising input costs. It noted that “substantial cost increases were absorbed on gypsum, paper, resin and freight, partially offset by lower utility costs from the drop in electricity prices.” It combated this through cost management and ‘pricing discipline.’ Revenue from the group’s Building Products division fell slightly to US$863m in the financial year to 30 June 2023 from US$873m in the same period in 2022. However, earnings before interest and taxation (EBIT) rose by 4% year-on-year to US$120m from US$115m.

Ross Taylor, the chief executive officer of Fletcher Building, said “Our US$240m investment in Winstone Wallboards GIB plasterboard manufacturing and distribution facility in Tauranga has now commenced production and will be fully operational by the end of October 2023. The new plant’s state-of-the-art technology delivers more production capacity allowing for product innovation and future growth.”

Overall the group’s revenue dropped slightly to US$5.07bn from US$5.08bn and EBIT dropped by 29% to US$298m from US$420m. The large drop in earnings was mainly attributed to additional costs allocated to the New Zealand International Convention Centre and Hobson Street Hotel project. Adjusted for significant items the group’s EBIT rose by 6% to US$477m from US$452m.

Germany: Knauf Gips has started an upgrade at its Iphofen gypsum wallboard plant to switch its use of synthetic gypsum to natural gypsum. The project is taking place to prepare the unit for the local phase out of coal-fired power plants by 2038 at the latest. Early work at the site has involved using a 700t crane to lift material over the Würzburg-Nuremberg railway line, during planned renovation to the transport link in late July 2023. The company described the cost of the upgrade as a “mid-double-digit million sum.”

Mexico: Panel Rey’s El Carmen gypsum wallboard plant near Monterrey has been awarded a clean industry certification by the Federal Attorney for Environmental Protection (PROFEPA). The acknowledgement recognises that the plant operates in full compliance with legal regulations at the federal, state and municipal level. It also demonstrates environmental performance, shows a voluntary commitment to the protection and conservation of the environment and includes social responsibility awareness. The certificate has a duration of two years and will last until 2025.

Ukraine: Knauf says that it hopes to rebuild its Donbass gypsum wallboard plant “as soon as conditions allow.” According to the Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung newspaper, the company has been supplying the local market from its Kiev plant. This unit was previously shut down but re-opened in mid-2022. Knauf also aspires to play a part in the reconstruction of social facilities for the country by assisting in the building of nurseries, schools and hospitals.

The company’s Donbass plant is located near to Bakhmut on the front line between the Russian and Ukrainian armed forces. The site was reportedly bombed directly in May 2022 during a Russian airstrike.

Kazakhstan: Russia-based Volma is preparing to finalise the purchase of a gypsum plant in Kazakhstan. The unnamed target of the acquisition has a production capacity of 120,000t/yr of building gypsum and other products, according to the Komsomolskaya Pravda newspaper. The transaction also includes a gypsum deposit. Discussions for the acquisition first started in February 2023. The plant is expected to become part of Volma in the third quarter of 2023.

Japan: Chiyoda-Ute plans to mark the packaging of its gypsum wallboard product with a ‘green electricity’ mark when it has been manufactured at a plant using electricity generated from a renewable source. The company first started using electricity supplied from sustainable sources at its Yokkaichi wallboard plant in April 2023. It intends to extend this to its other plants in the near future.

Canada/UK: Canada-based Solex Thermal Science has purchased UK-based Econotherm for an undisclosed sum. The acquisition is intended to expand Solex’s capacity to help its customers reduce the primary energy consumed to produce industrial goods
Lowy Gunnewiek, the chief executive officer at Solex, said “We at Solex are passionate about working with customers to understand their operational needs. Today’s announcement broadens our overall business portfolio to provide our global client base with an even deeper suite of best-in-class, sustainable solutions that align with their respective environmental, social and governance strategies.”

Solex Thermal Science sells indirect heat exchange products for the heating, cooling and drying of free-flowing granular materials such as solid granules, pellets, beans, seeds and particles. Since 1989 the company has installed more than 900 heat exchangers in more than 50 countries worldwide with applications such as fertiliser, oilseeds and industrial materials such as minerals, sands, chemicals and polymers. More recently it has expanded into the energy-transition sector with collaborations on decarbonisation applications such as industrial waste heat recovery, concentrated solar power and carbon capture.

Econotherm manufactures heat pipe waste heat recuperators, economisers, pre-heaters, steam generators and steam condensers. The company’s patented super conductor heat pipe technology is used in a wide range of applications across many industrial sectors. Its references include supplying a gas to air heat pre-heater on a gypsum kettle exhaust to British Gypsum.

US: CertainTeed plans to invest US$235m in an expansion to its 84Mm²/yr Palatka gypsum wallboard plant in Florida. The La Tribune newspaper has reported that the Saint-Gobain subsidiary will install a second production line to double the plant’s capacity. The company will also carry out work to increase the plant’s energy efficiency.