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Further expansion of activities in China:
Annual capacity of 250,000 metric tons approved / Capacity can be increased to 300,000 metric tons per year / Start-up planned for 2010
Leverkusen, August 21, 2008 - During the course of this year Bayer
MaterialScience plans to start construction of a state-of-the-art world-scale
facility for the polyurethane raw material toluene diisocyanate (TDI) at the
integrated production site in Shanghai. The relevant Chinese authorities
granted permission for the new plant, which is scheduled to be commissioned in
2010, to have an initial capacity of 250,000 metric tons per year. The company'
s global TDI capacity will thus increase to over 700,000 metric tons a year.
There are plans to expand the production capacity of the new plant to 300,000
metric tons per year at a later date.
"With construction work for this local TDI production plant beginning now, we
are once again underlining our commitment to what is the biggest growth market
in the world", said Patrick Thomas, Chairman of the Board of Management of
Bayer MaterialScience. A four-percent annual increase in global TDI consumption
is expected in the medium term. Forecasts for China as the major growth driver
in the Asia/Pacific region are twice that, at around eight percent per year.
TDI is deployed throughout the world to produce flexible polyurethane foam,
which is used in large quantities in upholstered furniture, mattresses and car
seats.
The innovative gas phase phosgenation technology developed by Bayer
MaterialScience is being used on a world scale for the first time in the TDI
plant. It reduces solvent consumption by around 80 percent in a production
facility of this size, thereby cutting energy consumption by up to 60 percent.
Thus the process technology enables a significant reduction in operating costs
and also makes a key contribution to climate protection. Compared with
conventional production facilities of similar size, carbon dioxide emissions
can be cut by around 60,000 metric tons a year. The new process technology also
cuts investment costs for this type of large-scale facility by some 20 percent.
"This enables us to further consolidate our leading position on the world
market for polyurethanes with optimized cost structures," explained Peter
Vanacker, head of the Polyurethane Business Unit and a member of the Bayer
MaterialScience Executive Committee.
The TDI project is part of a wide-ranging investment program at Bayer's
integrated site in Shanghai. The total investment planned for this site up
until 2012 amounts to EUR 2.1 billion, EUR 0.7 billion of which are scheduled
for the period from 2009 until 2012. This will cover the expansion of the
originally planned production capacities, including the necessary precursors,
as well as any increased construction costs - due to the price of steel, for
example.
The integrated site in Shanghai is currently being expanded by Bayer into the
group's largest and most technically advanced production site in the
Asia/Pacific region. The backward-integrated world-scale plant for
diphenylmethane diisocyanate (MDI) is due to go into operation this year, with
a capacity of 350,000 metric tons per year. This production facility will be
the largest of its kind in the world. In 2006, Bayer MaterialScience
inaugurated a splitter in Shanghai that separates raw MDI into monomeric and
polymeric MDI and has a capacity of 80,000 metric tons a year. Polymeric MDI is
used in large volumes to produce rigid polyurethane foam, which offers the best
thermal insulation of all materials currently available on the market and is
used as an insulation material in house building and the refrigeration chain.
The monomeric product is utilized as a starting material for polyurethane
elastomer production.
About Bayer MaterialScience:
With 2007 sales of EUR 10.4 billion, Bayer MaterialScience is among the world's
largest polymer companies. Business activities are focused on the manufacture
of high-tech polymer materials and the development of innovative solutions for
products used in many areas of daily life. The main segments served are the
automotive, electrical and electronics, construction, and sports and leisure
industries. At the end of 2007, Bayer MaterialScience had 30 production sites
and employed approximately 15,400 people around the globe. Bayer
MaterialScience is a Bayer Group company.
For more information visit www.bayermaterialscience.com.
