Gypsum industry news

US: Saint-Gobain subsidiary CertainTeed's Buchanan gypsum wallboard plant in New York has successfully participated in a gypsum wallboard recycling pilot. Together with contractors Structure Tone and Cooper Recycling, it processed 20t of gypsum from waste wallboard in its gypsum wallboard production.

CertainTeed interior products vice president and general manager Jay Bachmann said "For us to achieve our sustainability goals, we must change the way we think. By partnering with organisations in the community like Cooper Recycling and Structure Tone, we can get there faster." Bachmann continued, "As the only gypsum manufacturing plant in New York, our colleagues in Buchanan were able to create a true circular economy. From the creation of drywall products to construction, to processing scraps and back into drywall production, the material is continuously used and never leaves the state. This maximises our company's positive impact while working to minimise our environmental footprint. Our Buchanan plant has increased our capacity to reuse recycled material, and we look forward to growing this successful pilot into a long-term programme, while working with builders and recyclers across the state. Partnering with CertainTeed, New York builders have the opportunity to not only reduce waste at their job sites, but also gain Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) points on their projects."

The Buchanan plant joins CertainTeed's units at Nashville in Arkansas and Palatka in Florida in supporting the company's circular economic efforts in the US. The Nashville plant commissioned a 65,000t/yr line in May 2022, while the Palatka plant increased the recycled content of its wallboard by 18,000t/yr in August 2022. The Palatka plant plans to install a new 100t/hr Rotochopper grinding unit to replace its existing trommel machine in its reclaim processing and screening operations.

France: Alphaplatre's gypsum wallboard and plaster line engineering subsidiary RBL-REI has acquired calcination equipment supplier Gupsos.

RBL-REI general manager Lionel Landreau and Gupsos founder Michel Dairay said "The integration of Gupsos now allows RBL-REI to offer new technologies for its production lines, thanks in particular to the indirect cooking process using a Beau type kiln."

Denmark: Tentoma has launched its new XL Power gypsum wallboard packing machine. The supplier says that machine can pack up to 19m-long boards. For shorter lengths, it can stretch film for more boards per packaging cycle, increasing the packaging speed for the products by up to 25%. Tentoma built and sold its first XL Power packiaging machine to replace an orbital wrapper.

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.