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Gypsum industry news
Germany: A working group of gypsum producers in the Harz region has supported the Mission: Urban Forest Rescue 2024 reforestation initiative in Osterode, Lower Saxony. The group, including CASEA, Saint-Gobain, Rump & Salzmann and VG Orth, donated €12,500 to the initiative.
The Mayor of Osterode, Jens Augat, said "We are pleased about the companies' commitment to conservation, which goes far beyond the required level.”
Etex advances sustainability in 2023
23 April 2024Belgium: Etex says that it ‘considerably’ progressed its Road to Sustainability 2030 plan during 2023. That year, safety intensity increased by 7%, and Etex established a global diversity, equity and inclusion ambassador community of 110 volunteers across 26 countries. In Europe, the company achieved 70% Environmental Product Declaration coverage as a percentage of its turnover, up from 58% in 2022. Etex raised its total use of recycled materials to 7.6%, and achieved a 23% reduction in Scopes 1 and 2 CO₂ compared to 2018 levels, in line with its 2030 target of 35%.
CEO Bernard Delvaux said “In the EU, more than 40% of energy consumed is used in buildings and more than 30% of energy-related greenhouse gasses emissions come from buildings. Next to new building activities, and according to current high energy standards, renovating old building stock should hence be a top priority. With our portfolio of building materials such as glass wool and extruded polystyrene insulation, gypsum wallboard, fibre cement boards and fire protection materials, Etex has the solutions to reach the ambitious targets. But in view of the huge challenge, a holistic and effective plan to boost renovation is needed, to finance and simplify the renovation process, in each of the EU countries.”
UK: Adaptavate has inaugurated its first pilot line to produce Breathaboard bio-based alternative wallboard. Breathaboard performs in the same way as ordinary gypsum wallboard, but sequesters and avoids additional CO2 emissions, reducing the board’s total carbon footprint by 4kg/m2. Adaptavate's production process uses fibrous and cellulosic by-products from agricultural crops, combined with minerals. It has a minimal water footprint and does not require natural gas.
Chief technical officer Jeff Ive said "The commissioning of our pilot line is the culmination of a year's hard work. We knew the solution had to be scalable for significant impact. With full-size boards produced on a continuously extruded process, we’re turning our vision into reality. This pilot line is a game changer for us, our industry, and the planet, laying the foundation for global replication of our core innovation."
Saint-Gobain to power 20% of Italian operations renewably
09 February 2024Italy: Saint-Gobain has entered into a 10-year power purchase agreement (PPA) with Switzerland-based utilities provider Axpo Holding. Under the agreement, Axpo Holding will supply 22GWh/yr of renewable electricity from a newly built wind farm in Puglia. The deal will fulfil 11% of Saint-Gobain's Italian energy needs across 10 sites.
The latest PPA with Axpo Italia is Saint-Gobain's fifth in Italy. Collectively, these will bring the group’s reliance on renewables in its Italian operations to 20%.
Canada: CertainTeed Canada has begun upgrading its Montréal gypsum wallboard plant to convert the plant to net zero Scope 1 and 2 CO2 emissions. The producer says that the plant will become the first net-zero facility of its kind in North America.
Update on Spain, December 2023
12 December 2023Securing sustainable energy sources has been the priority for some of Spain’s gypsum wallboard producers in recent weeks.
In late November 2023 Pladur revealed that it plans to use green hydrogen at its production plants from the second half of 2024 onwards. It will start at its Valdemoro plant near Madrid before rolling usage out elsewhere afterwards. The subsidiary of Belgium-based Etex is also considering trials with biomethane and biogas. Then a few weeks later in early December 2023 Knauf Ibérica announced that it is planning to build a 7.5MW biomass unit at its Guixers plant in Lleida. Commissioning is currently scheduled for late 2024. This follows the installation of solar panels at the site earlier in 2023. Along similar lines, Saint-Gobain Placo signed an 11-year power purchase agreement (PPA) with electricity company Endesa at the end of 2022 to supply 150GWh/yr of renewable energy. Together with a previous renewable energy deal this was expected to cover up to 65% of the group’s electricity requirements in Spain.
Wallboard plants all over the world have been embarking on sustainable energy drives in recent years but the particular drivers in Spain are worth mentioning. The country’s high electricity prices have frequently been raised by large-scale industrial users in the past, often in terms of competitiveness of exports. However, the situation worsened following the start of the war in Ukraine in early 2022 as the wholesale price of coal and gas jumped. The high price of gas in particular pushed the electricity prices up in Spain and wallboard plants typically use both sources of energy. The government eventually capped the price of gas and coal for power generation. It then offered an aid scheme for large-scale gas users but missed the gypsum sector out, much to the chagrin of the Asociación Técnica y Empresarial del Yeso (ATEDY), which complained about it at the end of 2022. The gypsum industry was later included in July 2023 when a funding scheme was announced. It’s unknown how much this initiative has helped wallboard manufacturers but the shift to renewables by the three main companies mentioned above tells its own story.
Despite the energy supply problems a new entrant to the wallboard market in Spain announced itself in March 2023. Italy-based Fassa Bortolo said it was going to spend Euro90m on building a wallboard plant at Tarancón in Cuenca. No commissioning date or main supplier name has been disclosed, but Italy-based Bedeschi did say in late November 2023 that it was providing raw bulk material handling equipment including an apron feeder, stacker, excavator and conveyor belt line. There has also been no word on how the new plant will power itself.
On the topic of exports, Spain has long been one of the world’s larger shippers of natural gypsum. Data from the Geological and Mining Institute of Spain (IGME) shows that the country exported 9.2Mt of gypsum in 2021 with a value of Euro60m. Whether this changed in 2022 when the energy prices increased is unknown at the time of writing. In 2021 Almería was the epicentre of the country, accounting for 70% of the 13Mt total volume of gypsum extracted that year with a quarry at Sorbas, operated by Saint-Gobain Placo, reportedly being the second largest in the world. Most of the gypsum extracted at Sorbas was then driven by truck to the Port of Garrucha, making it the busiest gypsum port in Europe by volume.
Eurogypsum, the European federation of national associations of producers of gypsum products, launched its industry roadmap to net-zero by 2050 on 9 November 2023 at the Global Gypsum Conference 2023, which took place in Chicago, US. Various actions and technologies were unveiled as part of the plan including some of the approaches being taken in Spain such as using ‘green’ electricity, biomass and green hydrogen. All of these suggestions were split into short, mid and final term feasibility categories. So, for example, using renewable sourced electricity is dependent on it being affordable and available. It was placed in the immediate category. Yet, using biofuels or green hydrogen is flagged as requiring investment, so deemed as short-to-mid term.
Spain presents a case where the cost of energy for industrial users may be aligning with sustainability goals. How this translates onto balance sheets remains to be seen though. These kinds of sustainable energy projects may only be slowing the inevitable as raw material and energy costs mount anyway leading to tighter margins, increased competition and potential consolidation. The gypsum sector in Spain may well be testing out slightly earlier than elsewhere how much a more sustainable world will actually cost.
Pladur to start using hydrogen at plants from second half of 2024
07 December 2023Spain: Pladur plans to start using green hydrogen at its Valdemoro gypsum wallboard plant from the second half of 2024. The subsidiary of Etex will then roll out the use of hydrogen at its other plants in the country, according to Forbes. It is also considering using biomethane and biogas generated from organic waste in its production processes.
Canada/US: Saint-Gobain has signed a 15-year renewable electricity supply agreement (PPA) with TotalEnergies for the purchase of solar power for its 125 industrial sites in the US and Canada. This 100MW PPA, known as the Danish Fields Solar Project (Danish Fields), is expected to offset Saint-Gobain’s North American CO2 emissions from electricity (scope 2 emissions) by 90,000t/yr. The project is expected to come online by the end of 2024.
Danish Fields is the third PPA signed in North America by Saint-Gobain. The first PPA, with the Blooming Grove Wind Farm in Illinois, was signed in 2020, and the second, with TotalEnergies’ Cottonwood Bayou Solar Project in Texas, was signed in 2022. All three projects have been supported by Edison Energy, a leading energy and sustainability advisory that consults with the largest commercial, industrial and institutional energy users.
Mark Rayfield, the chief executive officer of Saint-Gobain North America, said “With this agreement, Saint-Gobain North America will further reduce its CO2 emissions, demonstrating how fast the manufacturing industry can transform when long term solutions are at hand. This renewable energy project is a new milestone on the way to meeting Saint-Gobain’s commitment to reduce scope 1 and 2 CO2 emissions by 33% by 2030 - compared to 2017 - and to reach carbon neutrality by 2050.”
The three projects combined are expected to represent a reduction of more than 70% in Saint-Gobain North America’s scope 2 emissions, compared to 2017 levels.
Oliver Cripps appointed as Head of Sustainability, UK&I at Etex
29 September 2023Ireland/UK: Belgium-based Etex has appointed Oliver Cripps as its Head of Sustainability, UK and ireland to support its brands, including Siniat. His role will be to push the company’s sustainability agenda, heighten the environmental credentials of its operations and products and decrease reliance on raw materials.
Cripps has worked for 25 years in the sustainability sector in industries including tourism, land management and manufacturing. His previous jobs include Senior Sustainability Manager at Dyson Technology, where he led sustainability for the New Product Innovation and Research teams, and experience working with global furniture manufacturer, MillerKnoll to support research and development and corporate sustainability.
North America: Saint-Gobain has signed a 100MW solar power purchase agreement (PPA), called Danish Fields, with TotalEnergies. The Danish Fields PPA will supply Saint-Gobain North America with solar energy for 15 years, commencing in 2024. Saint-Gobain says that it expects the PPA to eliminate 90,000t/yr of CO2 emissions across its operations. This is the group’s third deal of its kind.
Saint-Gobain North America CEO Mark Rayfield said “With this agreement, Saint-Gobain North America will further reduce its CO2 emissions, demonstrating how fast the manufacturing industry can transform when long term solutions are at hand. This renewable energy project is a new milestone on the way to meeting Saint-Gobain’s commitment to reduce Scope 1 and 2 CO2 emissions by 33% by 2030 compared to 2017, and to reach carbon neutrality by 2050.”