Kingspan’s Role in ALIGNED: Advancing Sustainable Insulation Solutions through Bio-based Innovation

What is the role of KINGSPAN in the ALIGNED project?

Kingspan is involved in the ALIGNED project as one of the industrial partners. Within ALIGNED we provide a case study on thermal insulation material, relevant to the construction sector. We aim to demonstrate with our case that the methodologies developed within ALIGNED will work for the assessment of bio-based technologies. The selected case for ALIGNED relates to the ‘Insulation’ division of Kingspan (building envelope, HVAC & pipework insulation, district heating and cooling and custom moulded packaging solutions).

For the case study we selected one of our premium performance thermal insulation boards from the Kooltherm range, produced in the Netherlands for the European market. Within ALIGNED we focus on the replacement of regular phenolic resin in the product by resins containing bio-based alternatives.

Since KINGSPAN is working mainly in the construction sector, how do you plan to conduct the identification and demonstration of solutions?

Kingspan is the global leader in high-performance insulation and building envelope solutions. Our mission is to accelerate a net zero emissions future built environment with the wellbeing of people and planet at its heart.

Kingspan’s ambitious 10-year global sustainability programme, called Planet Passionate, aims to impact on three big global challenges: climate change, circularity and protection of our natural world. We have developed a detailed programme roadmap, which includes target-specific strategies and timelines to manage and track progress. One of these targets relate to the reduction of the carbon intensity of our supply chain.

Developments to improve the environmental footprint of our products are relying to large extend on Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) studies. Within the construction sector we are facing a strong demand for environmental product declarations (EPDs), communicating the results of these LCAs. The EPDs are typically used for environmental performance assessments of complete buildings or as input to building rating schemes. The EPDs are created following specific standards and product category rules, that may differ per country or per EPD operator.

Within the LCA methodology we are facing several limitations and barriers that are applicable to bio-based materials, for example a lack of available LCA data for bio-based technologies, a lack of uniformity in modelling practices and interpretation and the use of different databases and LCA methods. Robust- and uniform modelling is essential for making well informed choices.

The use of recycled, bio-based and recyclable input materials that are responsibly sourced is an important element of our circularity strategy. In 2023 Kingspan Insulation for example launched its first bio-based insulation product called HemKor, which is largely made of hemp. Also, we recently started investing in wood fiber insulation. Replacing raw materials by lower embodied carbon alternatives that can maintain the product’s technical performance attributes, is part of our strategy. The case study in ALIGNED on bio-based phenolic raw materials fits well within this strategy.

With the help and knowledge of our partners in ALIGNED we will contribute to a LCA model for the selected product. We will start with a LCA for the product as produced today and develop scenarios for replacing raw materials by bio-based alternatives, considering biomass availability, technology readiness levels and possible future demand change. We will consider the full life cycle of the product from raw material extraction, production, installation, product use, until the end-of-life. In this way we will be able to evaluate possible bio-based alternatives for producing the product, based on the robust modelling methods developed within ALIGNED. The lessons learned from ALIGNED will be direct input to our product development and can be integrated in future LCAs for the development of our product EPDs.

With the participation in ALIGNED, Kingspan aims to drive development towards more uniform and reliable LCA assessment methods in general, and for bio-based technologies in particular. This will help us in making essential choices relevant to successfully achieve our Planet Passionate goals.