Emilia Larsson, Rauni Seppänen and Michael Lecourt

Holmen and FCBA

Different types of insulation materials

– Introduction

Contents

Background

Short Market Survey

Current competition to cellulose foam

Correlation between cost, performance and market share

Market driver

French market

Future market trends

Insulation materials

Comparison

Advantages with existing cellulose insulation materials

Biobased materials used in isolation

Cellulose foam

Manufacturers

WoTIM-project

• In the project, superior foamy cellulose based

insulation materials are developed.

• The target is that the performance of the novel

cellulosic insulation materials are at comparable

level with the materials made of polyurethane

foams.

(WoTIM = Wood-based Thermal Isolation

Material)

Short market survey

Current competition

On the market there is almost no reference of cellulosic foam products except one in Korea and Japan.

That Cellulose foam board is made from paper pellets and polypropylene, foamed with steam. The foam board is an environmentally-friendly insulation because gases such as pentane or HCFC are not used in the manufacturing process.

More about the product later.

Jae-Sik Kang, Gyeong-Seok Choi, Young-Cheol Kwon, An Innovative Foam Insulation Produced from Cellulose

The European market for insulation 2012

The total market was approximately 5,6 million tonnes 2012 (192,653,100 m³)

By 2017, the demand is estimated to 6,3 million tonnes

2,2% year-on-year growth

Estimated value 2012 was €9,600 million

Source: IAL Consultants, The European market for thermal insulation products

Correlation between cost, performance and market share

Low-cost products

Conventional insulation

materials

Superinsulation

Insu

lati

on

per

form

an

ce (

Cost

)

Market share

Source: Cuce E, Cuce P M, Wood C J and Riffat S B, A state-of-the-art review on high performance window

technologies, Appl. Therm. Eng. 2013.

Insu

lati

on

per

form

an

ce (

Cost

)

The EU Directive of energy efficiency is a market driver

Europe’s recent economic crisis put much of the construction sectors and insulation business on halt

EU Directives of energy efficiency has boost the insulation market

Also increasing insulation thickness requirements

Materials with enhanced fire properties are attractive

The mineral fibres are better positioned in this sense as they have ”natural” fire protection characteristics and are very well-established in the European market (57% of the total market)

Some countries are still much relying in the less expensive prices of expanded polystyrene insulation systems despite their questioned fire behaviour

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XERoufqhMzU&feature=youtu.be

The French market

Insulation materials based on bio resources are very popular.

Recently, some awards were given to cellulose based insulation at Trophées "Eco-innovez en Bourgogne"

IDEM and GROUPE ID’EES Services has developed recycled solutions.

Some difficulties in these products

Difficulties in implementing biosources based products into renovation or material building, especially in large cities. Productions are locals, limited to areas where wood or other materials such as hemps, straw, miscanthus, animal wools are produced. Indeed, increasing distances rise carbon footprint.

Improving production methods, reducing costs and limiting the use of adjuvants, are key issues for developing biobased insulation materials. However, markets are local and needs to be enlarged for economic viability.

Michael Lecourt, FCBA

Future market trends

Conventional insulation materials have the largest market potential since they offer the best performance per unit cost.

However, it is estimated for the near future that their cost will slightly increase and market share will reduce.

Superinsulation is quite important in space saving and it’s a more advanced thermal insulation

Cellulose could take market shares from the dominating mineral wool as consumers become more open to “new” material and understand the additional benefits such as soundproofing, environmental and health safety (comparison of today existing cellulose material and not foam cellulose insulation)

Source: Cuce et al, Toward aerogel based thermal superinsulation in buildings: A comprehensive review, Renewable and

Sustainable Energy Reviews 34 (2014), 273-299.

Insulation materials

Thermal insulation materials

Novel Materials Combined Materials Organic Materials Inorganic Materials

Foamy

- Foam glass

Fibrous

- Glass wool

- Stone wool

Foamy

- Expanded polystyrene

- Extruded polystrene

- Polyurethane foam

Foamy expanded

- Cork

- Melamine foam

- Phenol foam

Fibrous

- Sheep wool

- Cotton wool

- Coconut fibres

- Cellulose

- Siliconed calcium

- Gypsum foam

- Wood wool - Vacuum insulation panels

- Vacuum glazing (VG)

- Aerogels

- Etc.

The five most common types of insulation materials are marked in red.

Comparison

- Glass wool (glass fiber) is cheap, but requires careful

handling.

- Stone wool (mineral wool) is effective, but not fire resistant.

- Cellulose is fire resistant, eco-friendly, and effective, but hard

to apply.

- Polyurethane (PU) is an all around good insulation product,

though not particularly eco-friendly.

- Polystyrene is a diverse insulation material, but its safety is

debated.

- Aerogel is more expensive, but definitely the best type of

insulation

http://www.thermaxxjackets.com/5-most-common-thermal-insulation-materials/

Thermal conductivity of thermal insulation materials

Insulation product Chemical composition λ (W/m K)

Mineral wool Inorganic oxides 0.034–0.045

Glass wool Silicon dioxide 0.031–0.043

Foam glass Silicon dioxide 0.038–0.050

Expanded polystyrene (EPS) Oil-based polymer foam 0.029–0.055

Extruded polystyrene (XPS) Oil-based polymer foam 0.029–0.048

Phenolic resin foam Oil-based polymer foam

0.021–0.025

Polyurethane foam Oil-based polymer foam

0.020–0.029

Silica aerogels SiO2 based aerogel 0.012–0.020

Organic aerogels Aerogels derived from organic

compounds, e.g. cellulose

0.012–0.020

Vacuum insulation panels (VIP) Silica core sealed and

evacuated in laminate foil

0.003–0.011

Vacuum glazing (VG) Double glazing unit with

evacuated space and pillars

0.003–0.008

Aegerter M A, Leventis N, Koebel M M, Aerogels handbook, USA: Springer; 2011.

Advantages with existing cellulose insulation materials

Source: http://www.thermaxxjackets.com/5-most-common-thermal-insulation-materials/

Polyurethane

Polyurethane is a high performance thermal insulation material offering the lowest thermal conductivity of all insulation products commonly available in the market

Offers excellent compressive strength at low densities

Source: www.europur.org, http://www.excellence-in-insulation.eu/site/

Current bio-based materials used in isolation Recycled cellulose

• Recycled newsprint post-consumer is collected and sorted to remove

plastic, wood and other contaminants. The recycled newspaper is mixed

with post-industrial recycling which consists of unsold newspapers.

• Processing:

- Grinding to small fibers

- Addition of chemicals (e.g. flame retardant, mold retardant, etc.)

• Used as

- Loose fill cellulose

- Cellulose batts

- Wet cell spray cellulose

Cotton insulation consists of 85% recycled cotton and 15% plastic fibers that have been treated with borate -- the same flame retardant and insect/rodent repellent used in cellulose insulation. One product uses recycled blue jean manufacturing trim waste. As a result of its recycled content, this product uses minimal energy to manufacture. Cotton insulation is available in batts. Cotton insulation costs about 15% to 20% more than fiberglass batt insulation.

Cotton

The process of fusing straw into boards without adhesives was developed in the 1930s. Panels are usually 5 to 102 mm thick and faced with heavy-weight kraft paper on each side. The boards make effective sound-absorbing panels for interior partitions. Some manufacturers have developed structural insulated panels from multiple-layered, compressed-straw panels.

Hemp

Hemp is used similarly as straw.

Straw and hemp

An Innovative Foam Insulation Produced from Cellulose dated 2012. Cellulose foam insulation is composed of cellulose and starch. Cellulose is extracted from recycled wastepaper or sawdust, coffee sludges and plant materials such as beans and corn are used for starch. The product is made by a water-vapor expansion method. First, waste paper and starch are mixed together. And a portion of polypropylene-type resin is added to the mixture. Then, the mixture undergoes the process of steam expansion and extrusion that produces insulation in the form of boards or loose-fill insulation. Instead of Gas, steam is used for foaming cellulose.

The performance of the foamed cellulose product is similar to that of expanded polysty-rene (EPS) in terms of tensile strength, compressive strength, and water absorption.

Cellulose foam insulation has a density of 20 to 35 kg/m3 and an apparent thermal conductivity of 0.034 to 0.038 W/m·K.

Uses are insulation, Sound-absorbing materials or packing materials.

Cellulose Foam - Recycled cellulose

Young Cheol Kwon (Halla Univ, Korea), An Innovative Foam Insulation Produced from Cellulose,

BEST3 2012 Conf, Atlanta, USA.

Examples of Cellulose foam

Cellulose foam insulation

Young Cheol Kwon (Halla Univ, Korea), An Innovative Foam Insulation Produced from Cellulose,

BEST3 2012 Conf, Atlanta, USA.

Pellet manufacturing process: Wastepaper → Shattering → Mixing → Paper Pellet

Young Cheol Kwon (Halla Univ, Korea), An Innovative Foam Insulation Produced from Cellulose, BEST3 2012 Conf,

Atlanta, USA.

Product manufacturing process: Paper pellet + Polypropylene → Steam foaming → Product

Mixing

Steam foaming Young Cheol Kwon (Halla Univ, Korea), An Innovative Foam Insulation Produced from Cellulose, BEST3

2012 Conf, Atlanta, USA.

The project targets at developing fully bio-based tannin foams in order to substitute petroleum

based foams.

The tannins are extracted from the bark of prevalent softwood species in Europe. Further

components for the foam formulation like glycerol and furfural or nanocellulose can be

recovered as by-products from biodiesel and the pulp and paper industry. One aim is to develop

foams with excellent properties for application as insulating building materials and for conversion

into synthesis gas at the end of the product life. In this project also the environmental

performance, techno-economic feasibility and market potentials of those biomaterials were

assessed. Therefore the central technological developments will be guided by the sustainability

and economic viability of the products.

The consortium is funded by WoodWisdom-Net/ERA-NET Bioenergy program and started 2012

for a period of three years. It is coordinated by Prof. Marie-Pierre Laborie from the Institute of

Forest Utilization and Work Science (FobAwi) at the University of Freiburg (Germany). Other

partners are VTT (Espoo, Finland), University of Ljubljana (Slovenia), Université de Lorraine,

LERMAB (Epinal, France), University of Santiago de Compostela (Spain), Fraunhofer Institute of

Solar Energy Systems ISE (Freiburg, Germany), Ledoga Srl. (San Michele Mondovi, Italy) and

nova-Institut GmbH (Hürth, Germany).

The nova-Institute conducts a techno-economic evaluation of the production processes in the

BioFoamBark project. This includes market research in order to evaluate the market potential of

bio-based insulating foams from bark as well as a techno-economic evaluation, the calculation of

performance measures and the identification of cost reduction potentials and first strategies for

market introduction.

BioFoamBark: Bark Valorization into Insulating Foams and Bioenergy

BioFoamBark - Tannin foam

Properties of insulating rigid tannin-based foams:

- Low thermal conductivity

- Low density but good mechanical properties

- Very low flammability

- Mainly composed of renewable resources

Thermally insulating and fire-retardant lightweight anisotropic foams based on nanocellulose and graphene oxide

Bernd Wicklein et al., KTH, Nature Nanotechnology 2014

Nature Nanotechnology

Year published:

(2014

Fire performance has been studied by means of published data and moisture properties

studied by using published data but also by own moisture calculations. Moisture calculations

have been performed on a roof, exterior wall and attic floor in the measurement program Wufi

Pro 4.2.

The structures chosen for the calculations are constructed as recommended by the vendors of

cellulose insulation. Each design is calculated with and without a vapour barrier. This is done

given that there are those who advocate that the cellulose insulation’s hygroscopic capacity can

cope with the humid periods of the year.

The cellulose can buffer the moisture during the wet period and then deliver it when the warmer

and drier period sets in. However, calculations show that a moisture vapour barrier should

be used to ensure structural durability. Moisture calculations have also been performed on a

roof, exterior wall and attic floor construction with different insulation thicknesses and different

average temperatures. The results of these calculations show that a thicker isolation layer is not

a problem from a moisture perspective, as long as you use a vapour barrier.

When it comes to the cellulose insulation’s fire characteristics, the discussion shows that it is

uncertain how well the material resists fire. Few laboratory studies have been found and

small facts have led to that conclusion could not be conducted on the cellulose insulation’s fire

retardant properties.

Cellulose - an alternative insulation material considering fire and moisture?

Jessica Tangen Nord, Master thesis, 2013, Karlstad University, Sweden.

Manufacturers

Manufacturers Europe

A small number of large companies dominate the European market Rockwool

Saint-Gobain

Knauf Insulation

Uralita

Source: Detailed assessment of the market potential and demand for, an EU ETV scheme

European cellulose insulation producers

Isocell

Isofloc

By google “cellulose insulation producers”

many small producers pops up

Ekovilla Oy, Finland

- Loose cellulose and batts. Further information, see the VTT presentation

iCell, Sweden

- Loose cellulose and batts

Source: www.ecima.net

Isocell factories