Cheryl Richards of PPG Industries says The composites industry is behind the curve in developing the data needed to demonstrate product benefits.

The composites industry is behind the curve in developing the data needed to demonstrate product benefits to the emerging environmentally conscious market said Cheryl Richards, business development manager of PPG Industries, Inc. in her convention session titled It Takes Big Shoes to Make a Small Footprint.

She said there is a new and growing market of people who want green products but consumers must be convinced with evidence that environmental costs do not outweigh the benefits.  Regulators and lawmakers must be convinced too and that will take data.

To present the case that composite products have a net positive impact on the environment, the entire life cycle of many products must be examined from resource extraction through manufacturing and use and even to demolition and recycling. “We have to break down each component and put numbers on those,” she said. The competition such as the wood, steel and concrete industries has already done this work and the composites industry needs to catch up to stay in the game. “Right now, we are poorly represented [in the green markets],” she said.

She called on business owners and operators to read the white paper developed by the Green Composites Committee to learn how they can get involved in the research program.  Outside consultants will be hired to gather and examine the data to give scientific legitimacy to the study.

An industry wide effort will be needed to stay in the game and prove that composites can “meet the needs of the present without compromising the needs of the future.”

The United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) developed the BioPreferred program to establish new markets for bio-based products. Ron Buckhalt, program manager for BioPreferred, says that even as the industry is turning to greener ingredients, oil dependence is still a detriment. “Soybeans are being used more, but they’re a food, and when the oil prices go up, so do food prices,” he said.

One of the major initiatives Buckhalt discussed was the voluntary labeling program. The effort would also culminate in a system where green-eligible products would be stamped with an approved USDA label, much like the Energy Star system for electronics. What determines eligibility isn’t precisely known at this point, but Buckhalt said that whatever the level is should be an industry standard. “Companies don’t have the capability to go too high, but we could be looking at 30 percent,” he says.

The program is currently set up into five categories: acoustical panels, interior panels, plastic lumber panels, structural interior panels, and structural wall panels. But this is where the USDA is reaching out directly to the composites industry to help structure this area in such a way that benefits composites. “We need input from you as to how to categorize these,” Buckhalt said.

The program currently comprises 4,500 products from 1,000 companies in markets such as construction, food service, transportation, and facility operations/maintenance. Manufacturers currently involved include Agriboard, which manufactures structural panels from straw, and BioFoam Tech, which produces green surfboards.

Habib Dahger from the University of Maine spoke to a swelling audience on the last day of COMPOSITES 2010 on the window of opportunity available to composites manufacturers within the wind energy market.

Within the U.S. the largest concentration of people is within the northeast corridor, roughly the size of a misshapen Texas. Approximately 55 million people live, work and burn through high energy bills, all while untapped potential lies nearby.

However, the U.S. now has a goal: generate 20 percent of the nation’s electricity from wind energy by the year 2030. This includes not only land turbines but offshore ones as well. Currently the U.S. has several proposed offshore projects, mostly within the Northeast, but zero installed. Whereas the U.K. alone is pushing forward, contractors and all, on a $12 billion offshore project. Dahger estimates that within the U.S., $200 billion will be spent on offshore wind with blades alone accounting for 10 percent of the cost—which is a huge opportunity for the composites industry. “Offshore wind turbines offer a great deal of opportunity because they require different things compared to land turbines,” he says. But Dagher also pointed out some obstacles that impede progress. “Offshore turbines need to be longer and more durable within salt water to limit maintenance costs. After all, who wants to go 15 miles offshore and fix a broken turbine that’s 300 feet in the air?”

Dahger emphasized that the offshore market is slowly evolving. It’s new and has room for vast improvements within product use, installation capabilities and maintenance. “That gives composite manufacturers the opportunity to develop new resins and coating systems as well as develop solutions on how to anchor turbines that will be installed in transitional and deeper waters (over 200 feet),” he says. “Do you ask a boat builder to go 15 miles offshore and build a boat? No! But right now, that’s what offshore turbine installers have to do.” If the composites industry can find a more durable solution and an easier way to install these turbines, it’s not just a window of growth opportunity for the market: it’s a wide open door.

During a presentation at COMPOSITES 2010, Kirsten Dangaran, Ph.D., a research scientist at the Ohio BioProducts Innovation Center at The Ohio State University, shared results of a recent survey of 160 architects in Ohio. Nearly 90 percent of them reported their clients were interested in using bio-based, sustainable products.

She and Bob Moffit, a product manager for Ashland Performance Materials, spoke to attendees about the value proposition of eco-friendly composites, providing insight on how composites firms can position those products to resonate with green consumers and green builders.

“People are willing to pay more for green products, but those products must work,” Moffit said. “Also, at some point, you have to market it, and don’t sell just the green aspects—sell the performance aspects, too.” Green building initiatives and eco-friendly organizations can help companies market green products, he said.

Their key messages:

• LEED is a strong driver for use of rapidly renewable building materials.
• Architects and consumers are motivated by energy savings and environmental stewardship.
• There is a huge opportunity, with price-premium potential, for composites manufacturers.
• Don’t sacrifice performance to simply “go green.”

The United Soybean Board experienced record traffic at its Composites 2010 booth last year, but getting attendees to stop by wasn’t always easy. “It used to be that a few years ago, people would walk by and mumble underneath their breath, ‘Soybeans, that’s what you eat,’” says Dwight Rust, the USB’s representative. “Last year, we found that people walked by, stopped and talked to us. There’s been a change in attitude about the use of renewable products in composites.”

Rust represents the New Uses Committee of the USB, which funds research that explores the increase of soybeans in industrial products, including coatings, adhesives and thermoset plastics.  “When a farmer sells his soybeans, one half of one percent of his dollar sales goes to the USB,” Rust says. “Half of that goes to about 33 states in proportion to the amount of soybeans they produce. The other half goes to a national board.” That board comprises farmers who determine on what project the money will be spent.

The USB has funded research by resin companies and other material suppliers, private individuals and universities, and end users. “We like to see whether it’s a large use of soybeans or not. We spend on development projects, so we look at whether we believe that it will be commercially viable at some point in time,” says Rust. “If we fund a university, we try to find a commercial partner that’s interested in the project who’s willing to put more money into it to make it a commercial reality.”

The United Soybean Board will exhibit at Booth #649

Ron Buckhalt, BioPreferred program manager, will present a session at Composites 2010 explaining the history of the program and how the composites industry can participate. “I want them to understand that’s there’s going to be a way for them to label their products that contain renewable products and help them get more market share,” he says. “That’s what’s coming down the road, to help them differentiate some of these bio products from petroleum products.”

The objective is to develop new markets for agricultural commodities that can be used to make industrial products. According to Buckhalt, the government’s interest in the subject goes back to the 1938 Farm Bill, which promoted research in on new uses of commodities to make industrial products. Nonetheless, more attention has been given to the concept in contemporary times. “I’ve seen more growth in the last three years than I saw in the first 15 I’ve worked on this,” Buckhalt says. “The growth is actually exponential, particularly as we look toward greening our supply chain. People are willing to pay a little more, and with the government leading the way, we’re able to keep the prices down.”

At Composites 2010, Bonnie Webster of Monroe Industries will talk about the company’s experience developing and marketing Robal Glass products, which combine recycled post-consumer, pre-landfill glass and bio-based resins. “I’m going to discuss the advantage of bringing in green products to your repertoire, how to market to your architects, designers, and kitchen and bath dealers using current terminology and trends instead of the term of cultured marble,” she says.

For instance, the term “cultured marble,” doesn’t communicate the benefits of environmentally friendly products like Robal Glass. Instead, Webster prefers the term “Engineered Composites.”

Architects concerned about LEED points are hot prospects for “green” products, but making these products requires changes to the manufacturing process, and many manufacturers are reluctant to change. “Our industry needs to go as green as possible, because everybody talks about styrene, but there are resins out there that don’t have styrene,” she says. “There are bio-based resins. I’ve got bio-based resins coming out of my ears that I’ve trialed.”