Wednesday, September 9, 2015

World demand to rise nearly 5% annually through 2019

NEW YORK, June 15, 2015 /PRNewswire/ -- World demand to rise nearly 5% annually through 2019

Through 2019, world demand for fiber cement is projected to expand nearly five percent per year to more than 32 million metric tons. This rate will be a slight deceleration from the pace of the 2009- 2014 period. Spending on building construction, which is the primary driver of fiber cement demand, is forecast to slow between 2014 and 2019, restricting total demand gains. Demand for fiber cement in the nonresidential construction market, in particular, is expected to decelerate from the gains of the 2009-2014 period. However, demand for fiber cement will benefit from rising market penetration in its many applications. For example, fiber cement's ability to mimic the appearance of wood while offering greater durability will boost demand in siding applications.

Molding & trim to be fastest growing application

Fiber cement is used primarily in roofing, siding, and molding and trim applications, with additional uses including firestop materials, backerboard, countertops, and ceilings. Through 2019, the fastest growth in fiber cement demand is projected in the molding and trim segment. Fiber cement molding and trim is utilized mainly in exterior applications. Demand will benefit from its superior performance characteristics (such as ability to withstand harsh weather conditions without rotting or warping and low maintenance requirements) that will allow fiber cement to gain market share from other materials, such as wood products. Fiber cement siding is also expected to post solid demand growth through 2019. These products are gaining popularity in the US as they can withstand many harsh climates without rotting and are impervious to insects. For example, between 2004 and 2024, US demand for fiber cement siding is expected to nearly double its share of the total siding market. In 2014, roofing comprised the largest market for fiber cement products, benefiting from their superior performance characteristics. However, demand growth for fiber cement roofing is forecast to be below average through 2019. Growing health concerns about products made utilizing asbestos will slow growth in Brazil and India, the two largest national markets for fiber cement roofing. Fiber cement roofing will also lose share to concrete and clay tile products in these countries.

North America to be fastest growing market

The most rapid growth in fiber cement demand through 2019 is projected in North America. Accelerating building construction spending, particularly in the US, will fuel demand gains. Mexico is also expected to post solid growth in fiber cement demand, as building construction activity rebounds from the losses of the 2009-2014 period. Both Western and Eastern Europe are forecast to post the slowest growth in fiber cement demand through 2019. However, both regions will see accelerations in demand from the rate of the 2009-2014 period. In Western Europe, building construction spending will recover from losses posted between 2009 and 2014, and in Eastern Europe building construction activity will accelerate from the stagnant pace of the same period, driving demand.

Study coverage

This upcoming industry study, World Fiber Cement, presents historical demand data (2004, 2009 and 2014) plus forecasts (2019 and 2024) by application, market, world region, and for 19 countries. The study also assesses key market environment factors, details industry structure, evaluates company market share and profiles global industry players such as Etex Group, James Hardie and Nichiha
Read the full report: http://www.reportlinker.com/p03007363-summary/view-report.html

SOURCE Reportlinker

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Saturday, May 30, 2015

Sahyadri Industries plan to set-up new facility at Vijayawada


Posted: May 07 2015, 11:56 AM IST
Mumbai

    
Sahyadri 's plan to set-up new facility at Vijayawada, Andhra Pradesh.

Sahyadri Industries is planning to set-up Rs 140 crore ultra-modern non-asbestos flat sheets integrated plant at Vijayawada. In this regard, the Pune-based company signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) with the Andhra Pradesh Government recently. The plant will produce non-asbestos flat sheets (NAFS) etc with an annual installed capacity of one lakh tonnes.

The unit will get its raw materials like cement and fly ash from within the State. Almost 25,000 tonnes of fly ash will be consumed helping the power plants in disposing off the waste.

Sahyadri Industries is a manufacturer of fibre cement corrugated and flat sheets and non-asbestos flat sheets which contributes 85 per cent of its total product portfolio. It has plants in Maharashtra, Andhra Pradesh, Tamil Nadu and Gujarat.
Source: livemint

Friday, May 29, 2015

Korean Ministry of Environment visit: update 1

Korean Ministry of Environment visit: update 1

Hanoi, May 26, 2015

Delegation consisting senior officers from Environmental Health Division, Korea MoE, Environment Corporation, representatives from local autonomies currently visited our factory to witness the production of non asbestos corrugated roofing sheets and fibre cement roof tiles.

Asbestos off all forms had been banned in The Republic of Korea since 2006. According to statistic, hundreds of thousand of square meters of asbestos roofing sheets still exist in buildings which are presently in service, which is posing serious environmental risks. Many of these buildings and structures are owned by the government. Plan to replace these roofing with non asbestos cement roofing has been contemplated for sometime...

This is the second visits to the Vietnam factory and the delegation are satisfied with what they saw.

Reported by: Hung Nguyen
DURAGREEN
Non asbestos fibre cement roofing system.

Understanding Imitation Wood


Understanding Imitation Wood

KittiwootChaloeytoy
Department of Architecture,
Faculty of Architecture, Chulalongkorn University.
May 29, 2015 1:00 am

Wood has always been an extremely popular material for construction, but its popularity has decreased as the market price of timber has risen.
Some of wood's properties limit its utility. Wood bends and buckles with variations in temperature and attracts termites and other pests. For these reasons, imitation woods have stepped in to become an acceptable substitute for timber.

Imitation woods are manufactured from a variety of materials including polymers, PVC and plastics, but the type most commonly used is a composite containing cement. It costs less than wood and is not vulnerable to termites and vermin infestation. It resists heat, cold, and moisture, which decreases its susceptibility to material contraction and expansion and consequently commends it for both indoor and outdoor use. Consumption of imitation woods also has the advantage of not participating in the depletion of natural resources.

Cement is the primary stable component in cement-composite imitation wood. These imitation woods can be categorised into two types depending on strength and other mechanical properties. Fibre cement results from the mixture of cement and wood pulp from pine trees, banana palms, bamboo or recycled paper. Wood cement board is a blend of cement and compressed pine or eucalyptus wood particles.

These two types are manufactured differently. With fibre cement, raw materials are blended into a dense fluid concentrate, which is released on to a conveyor belt in layered sheets until the desired thickness is achieved. The sheets are then taken away to dry and cure before trimming and finishing. This process resembles the manufacture of paper, giving the material the nickname "paper tile".

Production of wood cement board proceeds differently. The first step consists of dusting component powders onto metal plates to the desired thickness, then pressing the stacked metal plates using a high-pressure compressor. Afterwards, the composite is left to cure for a period of time before it is finished and trimmed to size. This production process allows for a homogenous and contiguous surface that resists water. By contrast, fibre cement, which relies on the overlapping of composite layers to develop shape and appearance, exposes the material to moisture.

Differing steps in the production process distinguish fibre cement further into types. The Hatschek process involves the formation of sheets of material by rotating fibre and cement concentrate through a cylindrical sieve in order to de-water the solution. As the sieve is pulled under the concentrate in a vat, water runs through the sieve and deposits a soft porous film of fibres and cement on the surface of the sieve. Films are layered to the desired thickness to form one sheet and laid to dry and cure. The flow-on process requires the drying of sheets at room temperature, making the products of this process more fragile than those of the Hatschek process and necessitating thicker and rigid, less malleable fibre cement sheets in order to enhance durability.

Fibre cement and wood cement board products can be found in 1.20 x 2.40 metre dimensions and can be immediately employed in construction. We are familiar with these materials by the terms "ceramic tile," "fibre cement siding," "fibre cement cladding," and "fibre cement panels." Sheets of smaller measurement can be used as decorative alternatives for wood and can be identified by the trade names "wood paneling," "wood siding," "wood fencing," or "faux bois."

All of these imitation wood options continue to gain in popularity in home construction and interiors.

KittiwootChaloeytoy Department of Architecture, Faculty of Architecture, Chulalongkorn University.

Source: The Nation

Friday, May 22, 2015

Textile reinforced concrete gets industry boost

Textile reinforced concrete gets industry boost
Piyush Mishra,TNN | May 19, 2015, 03.04PM IST

AHMEDABAD: Five months after Ahmedabad Textile Industry's Research Association (Atira), along with Instut fur Textiltechnik-RWTH Aachen (ITA), Germany set up Innovative and Green Building laboratory - IGB lab for testing and display of Textile Reinforced Concrete (TRC), top companies like L&T and Godrej have approached Atira for collaborations for their upcoming projects.

While L&T wants to build jaali structures and houses for its officials using TRC, Godrej Group is in talks for various projects.

Textile reinforced concrete is a type of reinforced concrete in which the usual steel reinforcing bars are replaced by textile materials. Instead of using a metal cage inside the concrete, this technique uses a fabric cage inside the same.

Atira is also going to order Rs 3.5 crore bi-axially warp knitting machine from Germany to enhance the capability of IGB lab. Also the Union ministry of textiles has sanctioned Rs 3.9 crore for TRC testing and awareness. Initially, Atira had also worked with Ultratech Cement for the testing of TRC made products in Indian conditions.

According to experts, TRC is 80% lighter than fibre reinforced composite (FRC) and also stronger.
"In last few months, Atira has also developed further refinements in technology and come out with wall panels made of TRC which is 40% cheaper than conventional brick wall," said Dr Md Safikur Rahman, assistant director, Atira.

Mohit Raina, Indian coordinator for German partners in IGB lab, said: "People in building industry are still conservative. There is a lot of potential for new materials such as TRC. Apart from regular construction, TRC can be used as functional material as well."

A Mumbai-based company is into marketing and production of TRC products and is also working closely with Atira. It is currently developing modular toilets for a US-based company's CSR project. "These toilets are made of TRC and glass fibre reinforced concreted (GFRC) which will be made in factory and installed on site," said Raina.

Mumbai-based real estate player Malpani Group is also planning to use street furniture made of TRC for its upcoming projects.

TRC can also be used for curved structures and in comparison to FRC, it gives extra carpet area to builders.

However, the TRC technology will still need approvals from rating agencies before it is used for housing projects.

Source: TOI

Wednesday, May 20, 2015

Russia helps block export restriction on asbestos

Russia helps block export restriction on asbestos
Agence France-Presse
May 16, 2015 @ 9:00 PM

Four countries including Russia have blocked a bid to add chrysotile asbestos to a list of dangerous substances subject to export restrictions, participants at a UN meeting in Geneva said Saturday.

Russia, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan and Zimbawe opposed listing the mineral also known as white asbestos, which health experts say causes cancer, on the Rotterdam Convention list, according to groups attending the Geneva meeting that wrapped up Saturday...

"The failure to list chrysotile asbestos means millions of exposed workers will stay ignorant of its deadly dangers," said Brian Kohler, head of health, security and sustainable development for the IndustriALL Global Union.

"Countries that support the listing must be more aggressive in preventing the Rotterdam Convention from remaining a farce," he told AFP in an email.

The Rotterdam Convention requires full consensus by all signatory members, meaning a single country can block a bid to list a new substance.

The question of whether or not to list chrysotile asbestos and the other chemicals where consensus was not reached will likely be raised again at the next conference on the Rotterdam Convention in 2017.

Alexandra Caterbow, the co-coordinator of the Rotterdam Convention Alliance organisation, warned the meeting that delaying the listing of chrysotile would have dire consequences.
- 'Death sentence' -

"Every year you do not list, thousands and thousands of people will be exposed to this substance, which means their death sentence," she told the conference.

According to the World Health Organization, at least 107,000 people die each year from asbestos-related cancers and lung diseases such as asbestosis and mesothelioma.

While other types of asbestos have long been acknowledged to be hazardous to health, chrysotile is still widely used, especially as an inexpensive ingredient in building materials used in developing countries.

Around two million tonnes of chrysotile asbestos is produced each year, with the industry and a number of nations that produce or use the substance maintaining it is safe.

But WHO says "cancer risks have been observed in populations exposed to very low levels" of asbestos, including chrysotile.

India has long vehemently opposed adding chrysotile to the Rotterdam Convention list, but did not in the end join the four countries officially opposing its inclusion.

The number of countries opposing listing chrysotile has been shrinking in recent years.

GlobalPost - International News

Sunday, May 17, 2015

Ban on asbestos use in Vietnam is urgent

Ban on asbestos use in Vietnam is urgent
Ban on asbestos use in Vietnam is urgent: workshop

The Non-governmental Organisations-Information Centre (NGO-IC) held a workshop in Hanoi on November 27 to call for joining hands with Vietnamese agencies in a bid to draw a roadmap for the ban of white asbestos use in the country.

Nguyen Manh Hung from the Vietnam Standards and Consumer Protection Association said asbestos is a generic name given to a group of fibrous silicate materials which are now present in more than 3,000 products.

In Vietnam, white asbestos is mostly used in producing asbestos-cement (AC) roofing sheets. Forty-one roofing sheet facilities nationwide are able to turn out over 100 million sq.m. of AC roofing sheets a year, meeting 60 percent of the demand, primarily in rural and mountainous areas due to their low prices and high level of durability, he added.

Tran Anh Thanh from the Ministry of Health’s Health Environment Management Agency said asbestos is proved harmful to human health, and people are exposed to asbestos dust during production or use such as drilling, grinding, and mixing asbestos materials.

Asbestos may cause a number of lung diseases such as pneumoconioses and lung cancer, or oesophagus cancer and ovary cancer. As it takes 20-30 years for asbestos-caused diseases to develop, a majority of patients are of retirement ages, he noted.
Thanh said health insurance has covered asbestos-related diseases since 1976 in Vietnam, but the country has not had adequate resources to study and monitor such cases. Meanwhile, hospitals reported an increasing incidence of mesothelioma cancer, which commonly develops in the lungs of people exposed to asbestos.

The Ministry of Health urged the Government to take timely actions to stop the use of asbestos in order to protect the health of workers as well as consumers and the whole community.
It also asked the Ministry of Construction to help roofing sheet facilities to produce asbestos-free products and recommended the Ministry of Science and Technology to step up researches on alternatives and measures to safely dispose asbestos solid waste, he noted.

Dr Tran Tuan from the Vietnam Ban Asbestos Network (Vn-BAN), which made debut at the workshop, cited a survey in two communes in northern Yen Bai and central Thanh Hoa provinces that 85 percent of households used AC roofing sheets, less than 5 percent of residents knew about asbestos’s adverse effects on health and environment, and almost none of them heard about the ban of asbestos use in the world.

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