The heat of the CCTV fire has long since dissipated, but the reflections and discussions it has brought us have not stopped. In recent years, the fire incidents of building insulation materials that have occurred one after another have repeatedly sounded the alarm for us, reminding us to think deeply, and where is the road to energy reduction in the overall situation?？

　　Frequent fires push organic materials to the cusp

　　External thermal insulation is an important part of building energy conservation. It is constructed by putting a thermal insulation jacket on the building. In the building, the heat loss of the outer protective structure (the combination of walls, doors, windows, roofs, floors, etc.) is large. The wall in the outer protective structure also occupies a large share. Therefore, the development of building wall and the development of wall energy-saving technology is one of the most important aspects of building energy-saving technology.。

　　In recent years, major fire accidents have occurred continuously. From February 9th, 2009, the CCTV New Building North Building Fires, to November 15, 2010, 58 people were killed and 70 people were injured. The fire of Shenyang Wanxin on February 3, 2011 has aroused great concern in the society. Wall insulation materials such as polystyrene molded sheets (EPS), polystyrene extruded sheets (XPS) and polyurethane ( PU) was once the focus of public opinion. Some people have doubts about whether polyurethane insulation materials can achieve fire safety. There is paradox and even assertion that flammable decoration materials such as polyurethane foam are the main culprit in causing serious fire accidents, and it is proposed to prevent polyurethane foam from being used for exterior wall insulation and interior decoration. Replace with a flame retardant material。

　　On the other hand, the facts also prove that the main culprit of these tragedies is that the construction unit is eager to smoke, using unqualified organic insulation materials, combined with extensive management of the site and lack of security measures. When several major fire accidents occurred, the Ministry of Public Security issued the "Notice on Further Clarifying the Relevant Requirements for Fire Supervision and Management of Civil Building Exterior Insulation Materials" on March 14, 2011. In fact, as early as the 2009 CCTV new site fire, the Ministry of Public Security and the Ministry of Housing and Urban-Rural Development jointly issued the "Interim Provisions on Fire Protection of Civil Building Exterior Insulation Systems and Exterior Wall Decorations", which stipulated that the combustion performance of civil building exterior insulation materials should be Class A, with the fire of Shenyang Wanxin coming, we found that if we do not take tough measures to prevent flammable materials, we will pay the price of life and blood.。

　　Where should insulation materials companies go under heavy pressure?？

　　Since March 15th, the fire protection supervision of civil building exterior insulation materials has been strict, and the most lethal clause is “the civil building exterior insulation materials use materials with A-grade combustion performance”. The so-called Class A, according to the current "Classification Method for Combustion Performance of Building Materials", refers to non-combustible materials (B1 is less flammable under Class A, B2 is flammable, and B3 is flammable). At present, the popular building exterior insulation materials in the market in China are mainly EPS (molded polystyrene board), XPS (extruded polystyrene board) and PU (polyurethane), and it is essentially impossible to reach the grade A organic foam. Anyone who is engaged in material research knows that even if a flame retardant is added, the highest level can only reach the flame retardant B1 level. If the grade A is used, then only inorganic materials such as non-combustible rock wool, glass wool and foam glass can be used. Insulation Materials。

　　The fire injunction under the weight of this fire means that China's thermal insulation materials industry will face a situation of reshuffle or even elimination. Faced with such a tough policy, some people believe that the EPS-based organic materials in the current building exterior insulation market have always been the darling of energy conservation and emission reduction. Ji Guangqi, a researcher at China Architecture (3.40, 0.01, 0.29%), revealed that the Beijing Building Energy Conservation Professional Committee had conducted a market research in 2008. As a result, EPS accounted for 72% of the insulation materials in the Beijing market. XPS Accounted for 25%, polyurethane and inorganic materials only accounted for 3%。

　　In 2010, the EPS produced in China for building exterior insulation was about 1.15 million tons. In the same year, the largest share of rock wool and its products in inorganic insulation materials was 860,000 tons, and the amount of rock wool used in construction was actually Less than 100,000 tons. Since organic materials are basically derivatives of petroleum products, consuming resources is a big problem. With the existing technology, 3 tons of oil can produce 1 ton of ethylene, and ethylene is a must for producing a lot of insulation materials. Such large-scale promotion of organic insulation materials will inevitably impose a heavy burden on the environment and resource.。

　　Taking EPS (expandable polystyrene) as an example, the state stipulates that its service life must reach 25 years. In other words, the EPS board purchased by the construction unit can be regarded as a qualified product as long as it can be used for 25 years. What is the life of the building? The average civil building is 70 years old, and other types of buildings may last longer. Before the start of the large-scale urbanization process, there were not many high-rise buildings in China, and the area of bungalows accounted for the largest share of the total construction area of the country. The use of insulation materials in buildings is not common. The issue of really starting to pay attention to the use of exterior insulation materials is a matter of recent years, so its impact has not yet fully manifested.。

　　Foam glass welcomes rare opportunities for development

　　The real problem is that organic insulation materials will definitely be withdrawn from the market, and how can it be filled in a short period of time after the withdrawal?

　　Among the inorganic thermal insulation materials, the expanded perlite (vitrified microbeads) products have weak thermal insulation properties, which is difficult to meet the requirements of three-step energy conservation in the northern region; rock wool, glass wool and other materials, although achieving inorganic thermal insulation, have higher production energy consumption. At the same time, due to the characteristics of the fibrous material, the waterproofing requirement of the entire thermal insulation system is high, otherwise it is difficult to maintain the thermal insulation effect. The newly-recognized foam cement is only in the laboratory stage, the product performance is not stable enough, the product with low density has good insulation performance, but the water absorption rate is high; the product with high density has good performance in all aspects, but the heat preservation performance is down again. Therefore, it is difficult to make a big breakthrough in industrialization in a short period of time.。

　　In contrast, only foam glass is more suitable for exterior wall insulation, but currently only a company in Lanzhou Pengfei Thermal Insulation Co., Ltd. is supplying products in the northwest region, and it is difficult to meet market needs at once. Therefore, improving foam glass process, technology and quality, increasing varieties, opening up multi-field application markets, and implementing large-scale production are rare opportunities for the development of foam glass. Introducing advanced technology as soon as possible and establishing a large-scale modern industrial production line can not only step into the international forefront, but also become a leading enterprise in the industry, become an industry model, form our own international brand of foam glass, and quickly occupy domestic and foreign markets.。

　　It seems that to solve the development problems of building thermal insulation, we can only consider the way of the industrial chain. By constructing an industrial chain system based on inorganic insulation, we can effectively meet various needs. The formation of a spatial industrial chain is not something that enterprises can control. It must be supported by the local government, comprehensively planned, effectively organized, promote industrial integration and optimization, enlarge the main body, and promote the supporting facilities to form a western regional building. The main force of the thermal insulation industry。