Bayer MaterialScience to build a world-scale plant for polymer polyols in Antwerp
Total investment of around EUR 40 million / Commissioning scheduled for late 2008
Bayer MaterialScience is planning to build a world-scale plant for the manufacture of polymer-filled polyether polyols (PMPO) at the Antwerp site in Belgium. The plant, representing a total investment of EUR 40 million, will have an annual capacity of 60,000 tons and is scheduled for commissioning in late 2008. Bayer MaterialScience already manufactures polyether polyols, one of the starting materials for polymer polyols, at the Antwerp site. The decision to build the new plant in Antwerp enables leverage of available synergies and will further increase the efficiency of PMPO production.
The planned facility will utilize a new process developed by Bayer MaterialScience in close cooperation with Bayer Technology Services GmbH. According to the company this patented PMPO technology delivers products that are considerably superior to those manufactured using conventional processes and has already been successfully tested on a multi-ton scale.
The end products yielded by the new process contain very low levels of volatile organic compounds (VOCs) that were impossible to achieve with the technologies used to date. In addition to improved product properties, Bayer MaterialScience expects a reduction of 25 percent in plant construction costs and in the energy consumption of the completed facility once operational.
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