Industry is increasingly confronted with heightened demands for climate protection and energy efficiency. A study by the Federation of German Industries (BDI), titled “Climate Paths 2.0”, forecasts investments of approximately EUR 860 billion by 2030, which are necessary to achieve Germany's climate targets. This underscores the growing importance of decarbonising industrial processes for long-term sustainable corporate development. Alongside extensive transformation projects, quickly implementable measures to increase efficiency are gaining focus.
Albert Schell, Managing Director of Mesch Isolierung und Brandschutz GmbH, points out that significant energy losses in industry often arise not only from inefficient or outdated machinery, but also from unwanted heat and cold losses along technical systems. Industrial thermal insulation reduces the heat flow between technical systems and their surroundings. Schell, as an expert in professional insulation technology, emphasises that the targeted use of modern insulation solutions enables companies to improve their energy efficiency and take a significant step towards sustainable transformation.
Reducing industrial energy losses
For technical systems such as pipelines or tanks operating at high temperatures, inadequate insulation leads to a portion of the energy being released uncontrollably into the environment instead of serving the production process. Schell stresses that the operating time of the systems has a significant impact on the resulting energy loss. Particularly in continuously running industrial plants, seemingly minor heat losses can accumulate over long operating periods to become a substantial cost and energy consumption factor.
A comparable effect is seen in refrigeration applications, where the aim is to minimise heat ingress from the outside into the cooled system. A lack of cold insulation causes continuous heat ingress into pipelines, vessels, or system components. The refrigeration generation must compensate for these additional heat quantities, which increases energy demand. The consequences of insufficient plant insulation include not only higher energy consumption but also rising operating costs, increased CO₂ emissions, and restricted process efficiency.
Efficiency gains and payback periods
For industrial thermal insulation, materials such as mineral wool, rock wool, or glass wool are used, which, depending on the design, are also suitable for temperature ranges up to 1,000 degrees Celsius. Schell explains that, in addition to reducing heat losses, the short payback period represents another advantage. Insulation measures often repay themselves within one to three years through the energy costs saved.
Similarly, cold insulation, which reduces unwanted heat ingress into cooled systems such as refrigerant lines or fittings, contributes to maintaining constant process temperatures. For this purpose, closed-cell insulating materials such as Flexible Elastomeric Foam (FEF), Polyethylene (PE), Polyurethane (PU), or Polyisocyanurate (PIR) are often used, which can be suitable for temperatures down to minus 200 degrees Celsius. The targeted use of technical insulation solutions thus leads to measurable improvements in energy consumption, CO₂ emissions, and resource requirements. In this way, companies not only support their ESG strategies and meet regulatory requirements but also create an important basis for a more energy-efficient and resource-conserving industry. Technical insulation solutions thus make a concrete contribution to sustainable transformation by increasing the efficiency of existing plants and reducing long-term energy demand.
