News & Markets
Milestones and future prospects
20 years of research at Xella
Founding of the Xella Technology and Research Company
The importance of innovations that reach the customer in time and satisfy their demand is widely recognized. However, transferring this concept and the associated processes into industry practice is often not easy. Following the acquisition of the already established AAC brands Ytong and Hebel by the Haniel family of entrepreneurs in 2003, this consideration did not seem to arise at all. Both AAC producers had an established research organization, situated primarily in southern Germany, and had already caused considerable changes in the industry in the preceding decades. Product developments such as the thin layer mortar joints as a characteristic of high precision units or the blocks equipped with ergonomic handle aids are representative of disruptive changes within the entire AAC industry. Put to the point, there was no need to change anything. It went well. But is it certain that operations will continue to be so successful? Asking this question after the merger of two market-defining companies like Ytong and Hebel was both legitimate and challenging.
Questions concerning location and future direction of research were soon followed by the decision to bring together the successful German institutions in Schrobenhausen, Emmering and Hennersdorf under a common roof and joint management, relying on the pre-existing experience of all researchers.
Concerning the location, the choice fell on the German state of Brandenburg, owing to its proximity to Berlin and the associated proximity to associations and authorities that are important for the construction industry. Following extensive re-arrangement and re-installation of the test facilities at the former site of a calcium silicate unit plant in Emstal near Potsdam, scientific activity was resumed in 2003. At the second location in Brück, newly built laboratory facilities were put into operation with the official opening of Xella Technologie- und Forschungsgesellschaft mbH (hereinafter called Xella T&F) in August 2004.
In his opening speech, the then Prime Minister of the Federal State of Brandenburg, Matthias Platzeck, expressed the ambitious expectation that Brandenburg would benefit from Xella's commitment to establish scientific research in the location. In this context, he also emphasized the opportunities for cooperation with other science hubs in the region and the resulting opportunities for developing strong synergies.
Milestones in research and development
With the opening of the new research centre, the aim was to bring together the scientific resources of previous AAC research operations and to align them with new goals. A company merger is challenging also in the scientific sector. From then onwards, the former competitors in terms of product innovation stood for joint projects and never tired of imparting their special scientific knowledge to their new colleagues – unbiased and self-critical in the competition between the respective technologies and products. In addition to growing together, the following strategic core topics were on the agenda prior to emerging on future research:
· Identification of the central considerations of product development – which property is to be achieved with which technology?
· Organization of the new research facility – what is needed where, and what are the necessary structures?
· Establishment of an internal network to support the generation of ideas in the interest of the company.
· Consolidation and expansion of relationship structures with local, but also national and international research institutions.
· Transfer of research, which had so far been mainly focused on the German market, to internationally oriented research with stable networks.
· Excellence strategy for CSH research with the aim of becoming the main expert for CSH research in the world.
If you only look at the most important milestones in the 20-year development of Xella T&F research, it is already easy to conclude that important goals have been achieved. The following achievements stand out as particularly significant.
From today's perspective, for example, the publication of the first Environmental Declaration (EPD) for AAC in 2005 was a forward-looking milestone. Long before government intervention and the insight of wanting to build more sustainably stimulated the discussion about the environmental properties of building products, research within Xella stood for a progressive and, above all, open approach to this topic. This was a nice continuation of historical developments, considering that Ytong is associated with the first environmental assessment of a building material in the 1990s.
Environmental properties were still a curiosity, and only a few experts had a clear view of today's dominant topic of climate protection combined with sustainability principles.
Speaking of climate protection: Since the invention of AAC in 1923, the material has been a symbol of efficient construction technology. Because it combines many properties such as structural stability, fire protection and thermal insulation like hardly any other building material, it continues to raise expectations.
The first AAC block with a thermal conductivity of 0.08 W/(mK) marked the initiation of Xella Group's in-house research, which was followed by a series of developments in 2008. In 2012, this resulted in a product with a thermal conductivity of 0.07 W/(mK) for a bulk density class of 250 and in 2017, a thermal conductivity of 0.10 W/(mK) was achieved for a PP4 of bulk density class 500.
In 2012, the "Energy+" was developed, presenting the combination of AAC materials of two different bulk densities without using adhesives to bond the block layers. This was an important breakthrough in the provision of economical solutions for the construction of outer walls, which would not have been possible with the conventional method of bulk density reduction in combination with the use of fine aggregates.
These achievements provided answers for the complex questions of product development – answers that to this date form important strategic approaches for future developments.
Network cohesion was another task that had to be tackled in 2004. An important first milestone was the joint project between the research division of Xella T&F and industry partners, who used the "Energy+" product to build the first energy-plus house in Brieselang near Potsdam in 2013 under the umbrella of a funded research project. The way in which the building envelope was combined with system technology that works primarily with renewable energies made it possible to measure an actual energy surplus of the building. The M1 house received the "Energy House of the Year 2013" award, organized by Energy Academy Germany.
Guaranteeing scientific excellence is particularly important for a corporate research institution, as it builds trust and supports the reputation of the institution. The cooperation with other research institutions and the professional exchange with authorities almost requires a quality management system. In addition, the professional reputation enables constant recruitment of skilled workers. The accreditation of the Xella T&F in 2011 according to DIN ISO 17025 "General Requirements for the Competence of Testing and Calibration Laboratories" was therefore a logical first step on this path to scientific excellence.
Even though corporate research is primarily aimed at implementing the company's innovation strategy, discourse with other scientists inside and outside of the industry is indispensable. In 2014, Xella T&F celebrated its 10th anniversary with a scientific colloquium and also took over the scientific organization of the 6th and 7th International AAC Conferences in Germany and the Czech Republic in 2018 and 2023. In addition to topics related to technology and raw materials, the topics related to sustainability of future construction methods were the main scientific drivers of these conferences. The International Colloquium titled "Mineral Building Materials for Climate-Friendly Building Methods", held at the Humboldt Forum in Berlin in 2022, did not restrict the consideration of future challenges for mineral building materials, but enabled the critical discourse of science in the light of changing boundary conditions for the production and application of these materials.
The numerous patent applications since 2004 (to name only a few: Mineral insulation board based on AAC technology / EP 1 688 401; Reduction of thermal conductivity of CSU kicker course / DE 10 2004 017 199; CSH-matrix optimized AAC / EP 2 371 783) and the constant expansion of testing and research opportunities at both locations are evidence of the growing implementation of the Xella Group's own demands on in-house research. For example, with the construction of a modern fire test centre, the scope of testing was expanded to such an extent that elements can be evaluated under maximum fire loads (up to tunnel fires) and certified in cooperation with external testing institutes.
Prospects
In view of the developments of the last five years, it is justified to question the required research directions. Which challenges need to be tackled and in which timeframe? The range of opinions on these matters is becoming more diffuse rather than clearer.
If one asks industry colleagues about the challenges of our time, the reference to improving the CO2 footprint automatically comes up, and all other aspects appear secondary. It may be the main challenge, but is it really the one that drives science? Has the path not already been paved according to the numerous roadmaps published by the industries? By 2045, we will all be free of the CO2 problem – one might think. But to base every research strategy on this would probably be half-baked. Operational research in particular, which is looking to differentiate companies from the competition, will not be satisfied with this topic alone. The research on AAC has by no means been completed, the material and its technology are at best well known. In the next few years, in-house industrial research will have to explore several new topics, including the following (the list aims to stimulate the imagination and has at instances deliberately been kept vague):
· Does the current portfolio of AAC cover the future challenges of climate change? Do we need to have the courage to leave a gap?
· Overcoming the physical minimum in the thermal conductivity of AAC.
· Overcoming the strong interception of calcium in the AAC industry.
· Halving of water consumption in the technologies.
· Dismantling and recycling.
· Use of waste, including impure waste.
· Aluminium-based mix design development and monitoring.
· Self-bonding techniques for masonry.
· New ergonomic design solutions for building blocks.
· Chemistry and mineral raw materials – the end of a love-hate relationship.
· And, of course, minimizing the CO2 content by changing raw materials and reducing CO2 emissions in production and in the building stock.
· Biodegradable AAC.
· Second life of AAC in other applications.
There is enough potential to use another 20 years of research as a driver of operational innovations for processes and products and to make them successful.
"Highly motivated people, sufficient research funds, courage and a little bit of the five percent luck that one needs. In recent years, we have been able to experience many beautiful moments with all these prerequisites at Xella Technology and Research. We can be rightly proud of that. Keep it up!" Torsten Schoch, CEO of Xella Technologie- und Forschungsgesellschaft mbH
Dipl.-Ing. Torsten Schoch studied civil engineering and joined the building materials industry in 1992. Since 2002, he has worked on various DIN and CEN standards committees, focusing on building physics and material parameters. In January 2006, he became the CEO of Xella Technologie- und Forschungsgesellschaft mbH in Kloster Lehnin.
Torsten Schoch has chaired the Technology and Standardisation Committee of the Bundesverband Baustoffe - Steine und Erden e.V. since 2015. He has been a member of the DIN NA Bau advisory board since 2016 and he was a member of the DIN Presidium from 2016 to 2022.
He is a board member of the Association for Building in White (VBiW), a member of the executive committee of the German Masonry Committee (DAfM) and was elected Secretary General of the European Autoclaved Aerated Concrete Association (EAACA) in January 2020. Torsten Schoch also heads the technical committee of the German Society for Masonry Structures (DGfM) and is a member of the board of trustees of the Fraunhofer Institute for Building Physics. Torsten Schoch has written various specialist books and numerous publications in the field of masonry construction and building physics.