By Simon Robinson
Singapore – China has modified its flammability requirements, opening the way for a three-to-five fold growth in polyurethane building insulation, Yu Jing, deputy chief engineer at the China National Petroleum and Chemical Planning Institute told delegates at the ICIS Polyurethane Chain meeting here.
This regulation change could see the volume of rigid polyurethane used in building insulation in China grow from 100kT in construction in 2013 to between 300-500kT/year. This would bring its use closer to the proportion used in the US and in Europe at about a 30-40% share of the insulation used in construction, Jing said.
Jing said that although China’s 12th five-year plan called for an energy saving target of 65%, polyurethane materials are currently not being used. This is despite PU’s much greater insulation resistance properties than competing materials such as rock wool and expanded polystyrene. She added that rigid PU is a much greater insulator than competing materials.
A total of 80% of China’s housing stock is described as “energy intensive,” Jing said. She added that heat insulation for buildings is “a most important measure sof building energy efficiency.”
Taking buildings in Beijing as an example, Jing said that to save 65% of the energy in a building, a thickness of 45mm (1¾ inch) rigid polyurethane insulation would help a room meet the 65% energy saving standard. To achieve the same level with expanded polystyrene would require 80mm.
At the heart of the change is the Chinese government’s cancellation of two documents in its fire regulations and building codes which were introduced to deal with the fire risks of insulation in buildings, said Jing.
Document number 65 - which covers all buildings - and document 350 regulations requesting the new building, rebuilding and extensions of outside heat preserving materials, shall use flammable materials.”
“Document 65, which called for such materials to meet China’s B1 standard for fire retardant insulation materials in building insulation has been cancelled,’” she said in her presentation. The cancellation came into effect on 3 December 2013.
The Chinese government had realised that the fires which caused the documents to be written were not the fault of the polyurethane insulation but were down to poor building methods and incorrect material specification, she said.
