Plastics producer Synthos (Oświęcim / Poland; www.synthosgroup.com) has converted production of its grey EPS. The thermal insulation material, marketed by the company under "Silver", now contains graphite as the infrared absorber and reflector instead of – as in the past – carbon black. According to Synthos, Silver EPS has a lambda value below 0.030 W/m·K, and the contribution of heat radiation on overall thermal conductivity has been largely eliminated, particularly for low-densities.

Synthos produces Silver at its site in Ribécourt / France, which it acquired in the spring of 2016 through the takeover of Ineos' (Rolle / Switzerland; www.ineos.com) EPS business – see Plasteurope.com of 02.09.2016. According to Plasteurope.com's Polyglobe database (www.polyglobe.net), its current capacity is about 75,000 t/y. The company operates additional plants for EPS production in Breda / The Netherlands, Wingles / France, Kralupy / Czech Republic, and Oświęcim. With a total EPS capacity of just under 500,000 t/y, Synthos is the European market leader.