LEVERKUSEN, Germany (March 2, 2010)—Bayer MaterialScience said it will spend $204 million to build a 300,000 metric ton toluene diisocyanate plant in Dormagen, Germany, while closing two other TDI facilities.
The new plant is scheduled to start in 2014, and will use the company's low-cost gas-phase phosgenation technology, the company said.
The supplier said the move, part of its consolidation strategy for isocyanates, will allow it to save up to 60 percent of the energy needed for conventional processes. The two facilities that will shut down, in Dormagen and Brunsbuttel, Germany, together account for 300,000 tons of capacity.
The company said it wants to meet the rising demand for polyurethane foams in Europe via the project.
Bayer MaterialScience also plans to open a similar facility, with 250,000 metric tons of capacity, in Caojing, China, in mid-2011.