Bayer MaterialScience’s $1.8bn complex at Shanghai’s Chemical Industry Park was officially opened today in the presence of 500 guests with plans for further expansion well advanced.
The site houses world scale polycarbonate and PU facilities to meet soaring demand in the region where BMS sales leapt by 24% last year. The 100,000tpa Makrolon polycarbonate plant will supply material to the 650,000tpa Chinese market, which is growing at 18% a year. The unit is to be doubled in size by 2008.
The initial PU facility opened today is a "splitter" that separates crude MDI into monomeric and polymeric MDI, intermediates used in the production of rigid foam for thermal insulation, among other applications.
The new facility is the first step in the build up with a large-scale 350,000 tonnes a year MDI production facility due on stream in 2008, which will be the largest of its kind in the world.
Also planned is a production facility for the intermediate TDI (toluene diisocyanate), which is used to manufacture flexible foams for applications such as car seats, mattresses and furniture. With a capacity of 160,000 tonnes a year, this plant is expected to come on stream in 2009.
