Energy Efficiency Is Our Business

How can we integrate the UN Global Compact into our day-to-day business with measurable results? For Armacell, the medium-sized industrial company headquartered in Münster, Germany, the answer lies not only in their products, which have already made a significant contribution to the way in which scarce resources are used.

“As the world’s leading manufacturer of flexible technical insulation materials, we stand for innovative sustainable solutions,” states Mark Harakal, CEO of the Armacell Group, when asked about the significance of the company’s commitment to the environment. And this commitment applies to all areas – the bar is set high both for the manufacturing process and for the efficiency of the products. Participating in the Global Compact since 2006 has further sharpened the company’s focus on the way in which it does business.
Armacell’s best-known brand, Armaflex, which is used in heating, air-conditioning, and refrigeration applications, has been a success story for many years. The results of a lifecycle assessment that was initiated by the company in accordance with ISO 14040 show that, based on a service life of 20 years, an average of 140 times more energy is saved through the use of the products than is needed for their production, transport, and disposal. The energy required to manufacture Armaflex is “recovered” after just 50 days. And the climate footprint is equally positive: Installing Armaflex saves 150 times more greenhouse gas emissions than are generated during its production.

It was certainly not only the brand name that led to Armaflex being used to insulate pipework in the “most environmentally-friendly skyscrapers in the world” – the twin towers of Deutsche Bank in Frankfurt. From the very beginning of this refurbishment project, those responsible were aiming for LEED (Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design) Platinum certification, the highest category of the internationally recognized environmental seal of quality.

Environmental requirements were integrated into the corporate philosophy long before the climate debate began. This is not only reflected in the continuously improved product properties of the insulation materials; the company has also been working on national and international committees for many years. As a member of the European Alliance for Energy Efficiency in Buildings (EuroACE), for example, Armacell has recently backed the passing of stricter energy requirements for new and modernized buildings.

 As far as the insulation of industrial installations is concerned, environmental protection still has a long way to go. Only a minority are insulated, according to the current state of the technology – in this respect little has changed over the past 30 years. This is all the more surprising because industry accounts for around 26 percent of the total energy consumption and over 50 percent of CO2 emissions worldwide. Experts agree that there is still enormous potential for improvements in this area. Armacell, together with other leading European insulation companies, is searching for a solution. The nonprofit European Industrial Insulation Foundation (EiiF), which was founded in 2009, aims to improve the situation. The foremost objective is to make decision-makers on all levels aware of the economic and ecological potential of sustainable insulation solutions. In addition, Armacell itself is constantly developing innovative solutions such as tailor-made systems and can thus provide impetus for active environmental protection in the sector.

Apart from flexible technical insulation materials, the company also produces PET foam cores for composite materials. In this segment too, Armacell is proving to be particularly far-sighted in terms of product and process optimization. In September of 2010, these efforts were recognized by the Industrievereinigung Verstärkte Kunststoffe e.V. (Federation of Reinforced Plastics) with an innovation prize in the Environment category.

It is well-known that PET is 100 percent recyclable and can be fully fed back into the economic cycle. The polyester fibers gained in this way are used to produce fleece textiles or new beverage bottles, for example. With innovative technology, Armacell has now succeeded in using the recyclate of PET bottles for its own production. From this recyclate the company makes foam cores that are comprised entirely of recyclable PET. This means that the use of one metric ton of recycled PET material saves around 5,774 kWh of energy and avoids the emission of some 1.5 metric tons of CO2. This “green” plastic foam has the same technical values as PET foams manufactured from primary raw materials. It is used in transportation, wind-turbine construction, or ship building. PET core foams are in general environmentally friendly and energy-efficient to use because their low weight requires less input power during use than other traditional core materials.

In Armacell’s own production, the technical cycle is viewed critically for all products and constantly optimized. For example, materials that occur regularly as byproducts in the production of Armaflex are used in ArmaSound – Armacell’s high-performance insulation material for noise control. Whereas in 2009 some 20 percent of these byproducts were used as alternatives to raw materials worldwide, 25–30 percent were used in 2010. Individual locations (Great Britain, India, Saudi Arabia) have even been able to reuse over 90 percent of their byproducts as valuable raw materials for the production of ArmaSound.

Reuse of all byproducts from the manufacturing process is a key objective that is strongly advocated by the Armacell Environmental Guidelines. Non-cured rubber recyclables are already reused with the support of a waste management firm. Tests are currently being conducted to find out whether cured rubber residues may also be reused for new products. If this proves to be possible, Armacell will make a significant contribution to the reduction in CO2 emissions.