Innovative - 2019 Annual and Sustainable Performance Report

3. Adhesives and caulks

Innovative for Climate

3. Adhesives and caulks

3.ADHESIVES AND CAULKS

SOLVENT-FREE AND PHTHALATE-FREE FOR
SUSTAINABLE CONSTRUCTION

With its multipurpose Premium Aware range, launched in 2019 in Benelux, Bostik has set a new environmental standard for construction and insulation products. Its adhesives, caulks and polyurethane foam are solvent-free (the A990 Premium Acrylic caulk is also phthalate-free), and they meet the highest certification standards in terms of greenhouse gas emissions and volatile organic compounds (EC1PLUS, A+ and/or M1 classification). “In the last few years, there has been a major demand from the construction industry for more environmentally friendly products,” says Rodrigo Lacerda, Senior VP – Global Head of Construction and Consumer Business, Bostik. “This unrivaled range, the latest to come out of our R&D, reflects our determination to support these changes while maintaining the high level of quality and performance that have made Bostik so successful.” The adhesive specialist has also announced that it will update its acrylic caulks catalog at the end of 2020, making all its formulations phthalate-free.

4.FOAM BLOWING AGENTS

BUILDING INSULATION...
WITHOUT THE GREENHOUSE GASES!

With Forane® FBA 1233zd blowing agent, which is well ahead of environmental regulations, Arkema has achieved a disruptive innovation in blowing agents for polyurethane foams.

Polyurethane insulation foam, in the form of blocks or rigid panels, is widely used in construction and refrigeration appliances, but the expansion agents it contains, based on hydrofluorocarbons (HFCs), have a very high global warming potential (GWP) – often more than 1,000 times its CO2 equivalent. But not for much longer; from 2023, European regulations will prohibit blowing agents with a GWP of over 150. Arkema has not only anticipated this new regulation, it has gone much further. Its Forane® FBA 1233zd, launched in 2018, has a GWP of just one CO2 equivalent, “while offering better insulation, i.e. a reduction in energy consumption of up to 15% compared with today’s foam solutions,” says Mélanie Jourdain, Business Director, Fluorogases Europe.

Expanding markets

This latest-generation product is the result of R&D efforts that began more than ten years ago. “Derived from hydrofluoro olefins (HFOs), which should replace HFC-type products in a variety of applications, it required major research and development efforts, which means that we are now way ahead in this growth market,” Mélanie Jourdain continued. The  Group also sells HFO-based solutions for the refrigerant gas market. Forane® 449A(XP40) is used in refrigerated retail display units, another area in which regulations are changing rapidly.