Gypsum industry news

Spain: Wallboard liner manufacturer Alier has won €9.6m in European Regional Development Fund funding for an upcoming recycled paper plant in the Lopez Soriano Recycling Technology Park in Zaragoza. Spanish Collection News has reported that the plant forms part of the Gypsum Board 5.0 circular wallboard project. Alier expects to invest €40m in the project altogether.

Italy: Eco Avant-Garde has launched a new product from its Eco Gypsum 64 gypsum wallboard recycling system. The system can now produce pulverised paper pellets as fuel for dryers at gypsum wallboard plants. Eco Avant-Garde highlighted the evident circular economic potential of the advance in a post to LinkedIn.

Spain: Paper products specialist Alier has begun construction of a new €40m gypsum wallboard recycling plant in Zaragoza’s López Soriano Recycling Technology Park. The plant will recycle gypsum wallboards powered by a solar plant and biomass plant, generating net zero CO₂ emissions. The Heraldo de Aragón newspaper has reported that the plant will create 130 direct jobs and an estimated 390 indirect jobs.

US: Saint-Gobain has acquired the remaining equity interest and assets of Seven Hills Paperboard, including a gypsum paper board liner manufacturing plant in Lynchburg, Virginia, from its joint venture partner WestRock. The purchase adds to the gypsum wallboard operations of Saint-Gobain’s CertainTeed Interior Products Group. The company said that the internal integration of gypsum paper board liner production represented a “significant” step in strengthening the supply chain for this material.

Mark Rayfield, President and Chief Executive Officer of Saint-Gobain North America and CertainTeed Canada said “The acquisition of these assets represents our continued commitment to our customers to provide quality gypsum wallboard products.” He added, “I would like to welcome our 80 new team members in Lynchburg and look forward to your contributions to our purpose, ‘To Make the World a Better Home.”

China: Finland-based Valmet has received an order from Shanxi Qiangwei Paper to supply a machine vision system. The scope of supply includes an IQ Web Inspection System, an IQ Web Monitoring System and winder control with target-stop functionality. The investment aims to improve the operating efficiency and optimise the final paper quality of a paper production line.

Valmet is a global developer and supplier of process technologies, automation and services for the pulp, paper and energy industries. It is based in Espoo.

Shanxi Qiangwei Paper is located in the Shouyang Industry District of Jinzhong in Shanxi province. It mainly produces paper for gypsum wallboard products as well as packaging paper. It has a production capacity of 1.4Mt/yr.

US: The city council of Glenwood Springs in Colorado is aiming to implement single-haul refuse collection in order to eliminate the dumping of recyclables by 2023, local press has reported. A review of waste management practices found that the city has a recycling contamination rate of just 8%, yet 80% of waste sent to landfill consists of recyclable materials. Eagle County Recycle operates the city's waste management facility. The company says that it supplies waste cardboard for gypsum wallboard backing production in neighbouring Oklahoma.

Manager Jesse Masten said “The mill in Oklahoma that we send the cardboard to actually makes the paper backing for wallboard. Then, that paper backing is potentially sent back to the American Gypsum gypsum wallboard plant in Gypsum and used for the wallboard that they’re producing.”

US: CertainTeed has completed a US$1.3m upgrade to its Nashville wallboard plant in Arkansas to use recycled waste gypsum and paper. The plant will reuse 65,000t/yr of waste materials generated from the production process. The company plans to increase the amount of recycled materials in its gypsum wallboard in the future.

“In Nashville and at our manufacturing sites around the world, we remain laser-focused on reducing waste, reducing our consumption of natural resources, and increasing recycling and circularity throughout our value chain,” said Jay Bachmann, Vice President and General Manager of CertainTeed Gypsum.

US: The US Department of Energy has awarded CertainTeed its 2022 Better Project Award for the company’s installation of a 15,000t/yr production scrap paper recycling system at its Silver Grove, Kentucky, gypsum wallboard plant. The plant recycles ground paper and gypsum from the system in its gypsum wallboard production.

CertainTeed vice president environmental, social and governance North America and Saint-Gobain circular economy solutions managing director Dennis Wilson said "Our recycling technology in Silver Grove allows us to reduce our waste, reduce our consumption of natural resources and also reduce our production costs - all while continuing to produce the best gypsum wallboard product on the market.” Wilson continued “We will continue to look for ways to minimise our environmental footprint while striving to maximise our company's positive impact for our customers and the communities where we operate."

Hungary: Slovakia-based Stavmat Epitoanyag Kereskedelmi has produced its first batch of wallboard from recycled drinks cartons at its Kaposvar pilot plant in Somogy County. MTI – EcoNews has reported that the company plans to install two further production lines at the site by January 2023.

The full-scale plant will cost US$10.6m, employ 20 people and consume 50 – 70t/yr of waste drinks cartons. Stavmat Epitoanyag Kereskedelmi plans to establish a carton collection service across Southern Transdanubia. The present commissioning may lead to the establishment of a second, 10-line plant at a cost of US$21.2m.

China: BNBM’s operating income grew by 25% to US$3.33bn in 2021 from US$2.66bn in 2020. Its net profit rose by 23% to US$554m from US$451m. Its production and sales volumes of gypsum wallboard increased by 19% to 2.43Bnm² and 18% to 2.38Bnm² respectively. It reported a gypsum wallboard production capacity utilisation rate of 78%. The group added that data from the Gypsum Building Materials Branch of China Building Materials Federation showed that national wallboard production capacity was 4.90Bnm²/yr and that production and sales were 3.51Bnm² in 2021.

Parent company CNBM separately reported that the group raised its average wallboard selling prices by 7%. It said it put up its prices in the reporting period due to high prices of coal, gypsum, paper and other raw materials. Internationally, the group said that a new wallboard plant in Tanzania had started operation in 2021 and that a new plant in Uzbekistan is still being built.