Insulation products manufacturer Arabian Chemical Company (Polystyrene) (ACC PS) has strengthened its grip as supplier of construction products in the region, capitalising on fast developing trends to cut power costs.

ACC PS is an equal joint venture between EA Juffali & Brothers and the Dow Chemical Company. It started production in Saudi Arabia in mid-1986.

With demand for its products growing, the company decided to open another plant in Dubai.

The first product that ACC PS manufactured in Saudi Arabia was the polystyrene thermal insulation board Styrofoam, which it earlier used to import for distribution.

“ACC PS created awareness in the private and public Saudi sectors of the benefits of Styrofoam thermal insulation in terms of human comfort, energy conservation and environmental protection,” said its executive director Hilal Kabbani.

Styrofoam helps reduce electricity bills by up to 60 per cent in a two-storey villa, he claims.

According to Kabbani some 30 per cent of buildings in the kingdom receive some kind of thermal insulation with staggering efficiency since there is still no compulsory insulation standard regulating such insulation in buildings.

“Most GCC countries lack well-defined and enforced thermal insulation standards and the reason for that is a lack of incentives for home owners stemming from highly subsidised electrical tariffs granted by governments.”

Notwithstanding that situation, Arabian Chemical Company has managed to serve a number of building owners and property developers.

Some major projects
In 2008 and 2009 the company supplied 100,000 sq m of insulated wall composite panels of fibre cement board and Styrofoam to King Abdullah University for Science and Technology (Kaust) in Thuwal.

Projects that have used ACC PS products include the Dubai International Financial  Centre Gate, the Formula One racing complex, Bahrain; Hamad Medical City, Doha, Qatar, and the Saudi developments of King Abdullah Economic City, economic cities in Jizan, Hail, Madinah and Ras Al Zour and a new industrial hub in the Eastern Province.

ACC PS has a wide product range and serves specific applications requirements. Roofmate, for instance, has a minimum density of 32 to 35 kg/cu m with 300 kpa compressive strength and caters to the inverted roof concept.

Wallmate has a density of 28 kg/cu m and is suitable for cavity wall applications. Floormate is produced in four grades, each with a different density, and compressive strength to meet the requirements of floor applications with heavy loads.

The company has a special product for insulating thermal bridges in buildings represented by a concrete skeleton. Thermal bridges contribute 35 per cent in the transfer of heat flow to the interiors of houses while they represent only 10-13 per cent of building facades.

Its perimeter insulation for basements in building work as drainage boards when provided with grooves and filter fabric. The company manufactures pipe shells from Styrofoam to insulate chilled water piping.

The production facilities are located in Jeddah Industrial City, Phase 3. The facilities include a production hall of 5,000 sq m, a warehouse and a diversification building spanning 3,000 sq m in which diversification products such as Thermoblock, Roofmate Rooftile and Wallmate GB are made.

The company is expanding production capacity to reach a total of 500,000 cu m per year.

The Dubai subsidiary, Arabian Chemical Insulation Company (ACIC), has a plant in Jebel Ali (capacity 200,000 cu m) serving some GCC states, India and the Far East. It came on stream in 2004 after implementation by the Dubai authorities of compulsory thermal insulation standards, though Kabbani, who is also ACIC executive director, says those standards need “fine tuning.”

Continuous innovation
ACC PS is backed by Dow Chemical’s R&D Department and has benefited from continuous innovation and product enhancements. Kabbani noted that as early as 1992 the local company introduced blowing agents that were not harmful to the ozone layer. “We’re now looking to next-generation innovation which involves the use of a new blowing agent with zero depletion potential to the ozone and very low global warning potential,” the official said.

The Saudi complex’s products are exported to the Middle East and North Africa while ACC PS supplies Dow partner products to Southeast Asia, the Far East, Australia and New Zealand.

“Sales have increased manifold since production first commenced and this is due to an excellent awareness campaign we undertook. Year 2009 was an excellent one and we expect 2010 to be 20 per cent better.” He based his optimism on the 2009 construction boom in some GCC states, continuing construction activities in Abu Dhabi, Qatar and Saudi Arabia and a buoyant export market in the Middle East, the Pacific region and the Near East.

“New projects that are in the pipeline will deal with products that allow us to sell thermal insulation as a complete system to the building industry. As a mater of fact ASS PS is now marketing complete roofing systems of Styrofoam with Firestone EPDM or TPO and Typar as filter layers,” Kabbani said.

The company’s growth strategy is based on penetration of new geographical areas as well as developing new applications such as the insulating thermal bridge.

“The most important factor that will help the growth of insulation demand exponentially in Saudi Arabia is the implementation of a building code that will make the use of insulation compulsory with a definite U value (total coefficient of heat transfer). The code has been released on a two-year-trial basis and once it is enforced we will witness an explosion in demand,” said Kabbani.

The company obtains its main raw material polystyrene from Sabic but when the petrochemical giant cannot supply the requisitioned volumes other sources are tapped including Dow.