Bayer MaterialScience commissions new hydrogenation technical center  

Bayer MaterialScience AG (Leverkusen, Germany; www.materialscience.bayer.com) has commissioned a new technical center for the development of isocyanate production processes at Chempark Dormagen. The research center was erected in just under a year with an investment of EUR 5 million. “All global research activities related to the production of aromatic isocyanates have now been pooled in the new hydrogenation technical center,” said Joachim Wolff, head of the polyurethanes business and member of the Executive Committee of Bayer MaterialScience, on the occasion of the commissioning. “The associated efficiency gains in the research and optimization of the production processes will help to further expand our global technological leadership.” The state-of-the-art facility is focused on hydrogenation technology for the production of precursors to diphenylmethane diisocyanate (MDI) and toluene diisocyanate (TDI). MDI is the starting product for rigid polyurethane foam, which enables particularly efficient insulation of buildings, in particular. Over its service life, it saves as much as 70 times more energy than is needed to produce the foam. TDI is used to make flexible polyurethane foam for comfortable upholstered…