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Aug 27th, 2008                                Print this article

Bayer breaks ground on Shanghai TDI plant

By Tony Deligio

Following permission from Chinese authorities, Bayer MaterialScience (BMS; Leverkusen, Germany) has started construction on a world-scale production facility in Shanghai for polyurethane (PUR) component toluene diisocyanate (TDI), building an initial capacity of 250,000 tonnes/yr, with the ability to expand to 300,000 tonnes/yr. The new plant is scheduled to be commissioned in 2010 and will boost BMS’ global TDI capacity to more than 700,000 tonnes/yr.

In a release, BMS board of management Chairman Patrick Thomas says the investment underlines the company’s commitment to “what is the biggest growth market in the world.” BMS expects TDI consumption to experience 4% annual gains globally, with the rate double that in China at 8%/yr.

BMS will apply its gas-phase phosgenation technology on a world scale for the first time in the new TDI plant. The technology reduces solvent consumption by around 80% in a production facility of this size, while cutting energy consumption by up to 60%. In addition, the company says compared to conventional production facilities of similar size, carbon dioxide emissions can be cut by around 60,000 tonnes/yr.

The TDI project is part of a broader investment at Bayer’s integrated site in Shanghai, which expects to be the recipient of euro 2.1 billion in investments through 2012. The backward-integrated world-scale plant for diphenylmethane diisocyanate (MDI) is due to go into operation this year, with a capacity of 350,000 tonnes/yr, making it the largest of its kind in the world. In 2006, BMS inaugurated a splitter in Shanghai that separates raw MDI into monomeric and polymeric MDI, with a capacity of 80,000 tonnes/yr.—tdeligio@modplas.com

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