Bayer AG is to invest around EUR 48 million to
expand its hexamethylene diisocyanate (HDI) capacities. A new
building is currently under construction on a 3,000-square-meter
site. The 35 meter-tall production facility with its adjacent tank
farm is to go on stream in mid-2002 and will double the current
capacity to 60,000 tpa. The company processes HDI – an important
precursor for coating raw materials – into Desmodur® N,
predominantly in Leverkusen and Dormagen. The largest field of
application for these aliphatic polyisocyanates is in automotive
coatings, but polyurethane systems are also being used increasingly
in the construction sector and in the wood and furniture industry.
The demands made on surface coatings with regard to appearance,
chemical and mechanical resistance, lightfastness and weather
stability are constantly growing. As a result, demand is mounting for
aliphatic polyisocyanates for the formulation of high-performance
polyurethane coatings. The Desmodur N grades based on HDI are
the classic lightfast crosslinking agents for two-component
polyurethane systems.
Bayer produces these coating raw materials not only at its German
sites in Leverkusen and Dormagen, but also in the United States,
Brazil and Japan. Another production site in Asia is currently at the
planning stage. According to Bernd Steinhilber, head of Industrial
Coatings in Bayer's Coatings and Colorants Business Group, the
main arguments for the expansion of the HDI facility in Leverkusen
were "the good infrastructure of the site and its central position
within Europe." In addition, the complete infrastructure of the
existing HDI production plant can be used, because the two
facilities will be separated only by a road running between them.