Materials

Troldtekt acoustic panels are made from wood and cement. At Troldtekt we only use FSC^® (FSC^®C115450) and PEFC™-certified wood from Danish forests. And we are in the process of replacing traditional cement with a new CO₂-reduced cement type.

Troldtekt acoustic panels consist of certified wood, which is a natural material, and cement extracted from Danish mineral resources. The two ingredients are used to produce the original Troldtekt cement-bonded wood wool panels with the unique acoustic properties.

All the raw wood we use is Norway spruce sourced from Danish forests. Danish wood is a renewable resource, as more is planted than is logged. Moreover, wood is a carbon-neutral resource, as trees absorb as much CO₂ while they grow as is released during their care, felling and transport.

For Troldtekt, certification, including traceability of the wood we use, is crucial. From 2020, we have been certified according to the two leading standards for sustainable forestry: FSC and PEFC. With the two certifications, we support biodiversity in forests in line with UN SDG 15: Life on Land.

Strict traceability requirements

Troldtekt obtained FSC certification back in 2013, and since 2018 has also been approved to offer products in the ‘FSC 100%’ category, which means that all the wood used to produce each and every acoustic panel meets the FSC requirements. This imposes strict traceability requirements – from when the wood arrives at our factory and until we deliver the finished acoustic panels to customers.

FSC-certified raw wood is carefully separated from PEFC-certified raw wood throughout the production process, which means that every wood fibre in an FSC-certified Troldtekt acoustic panel is guaranteed to come from FSC-certified forests. And before we produce the FSC-certified acoustic panels, the production line is thoroughly cleaned.

Supplemented with PEFC certification

The demand for certified wood is increasing in construction, which is why we decided to supplement our FSC certification with PEFC certification. This guarantees customers documentation that all the wood in our acoustic panels comes from responsible forestry operations.

Troldtekt has previously supplied PEFC-certified products, but decided at the beginning of 2018 to go all in on the other leading certification – FSC. Since then, demand has grown, however, and it has been difficult to source enough raw wood from Danish FSC-certified forests.

Therefore, in 2020, we decided to again obtain PEFC certification for our products so that all Troldtekt acoustic panels are certified. In practice, all the raw wood is PEFC-certified, and a large proportion is also FSC-certified, as it comes from ‘double-certified’ forests. However, the finished acoustic panels can only be certified according to one of the two certification schemes, and customers can therefore freely choose between either one or the other – PEFC or FSC.

Strength of cement brings benefits

Troldtekt acoustic panels have the outstanding properties of the raw materials from which they are made: the flexibility and natural breathability of wood combined with the strength, robustness and durability of cement. Moreover, the cement also adds effective fireproofing properties – without the use of harmful chemicals. Excellent and valuable properties that would be difficult to achieve with a binder other than cement.

In addition, the cement content means that Troldtekt acoustic panels absorb CO₂ during their product lives. In fact, cement absorbs CO₂ through the chemical process of carbonatisation during hardening. Because the cement in Troldtekt cement-bonded wood wool is spread across a large surface, the process is significantly faster for Troldtekt than for solid concrete.

Significantly lower footprint with new cement type

On the other hand, the production of cement emits a lot of CO₂, and reducing the carbon footprint from production is a key focus area for Troldtekt.

Troldtekt has therefore developed an acoustic panel in which the cement has been replaced with the new, CO₂-reduced cement type FUTURECEM^TM. FUTURECEM is a patented type of cement from Aalborg Portland, which synergises calcined clay with lime filler. In this way, much of the fired clinker in the cement can be replaced, and the result is a 30 per cent lower carbon footprint from the cement.

We are in constant dialogue with Aalborg Portland, which is working on a number of initiatives to further reduce CO₂ emissions. In talks with the Danish government, Aalborg Portland has committed to reducing its CO₂ emissions by 70 per cent by 2050 at the latest.

This will be achieved, among other things, through energy efficiency improvements, phasing out fossil fuels, carbon capture, the increased use of alternative or carbon-neutral fuels, the launch of greener cement products and through the supply of carbon-neutral district heating to over 75,000 households.

In addition to our dialogue with Aalborg Portland, we are investigating binders that could function as an alternative to cement. One example is geopolymers, which are not based on chalk, but instead on silica/alumina compounds, which are found in ash from biomass, for example. In collaboration with the Danish Institute of Fire and Security Technology (DBI) and with the support of Innovation Fund Denmark, we are looking into whether it is possible to use geopolymers as a raw material in Troldtekt acoustic panels and what it would require to do so.

Read what we are doing to reduce the carbon footprint of cement