BMS opens world’s largest CNT pilot facility

Bayer MaterialScience (BMS; Leverkusen, Germany; www.bayermaterialscience.com) has opened a new pilot facility for the manufacture of carbon nanotubes (CNTs) at Chempark Leverkusen. The company has invested some €22 million in the planning, development and construction of the facility, which is the largest of its kind in the world and has a capacity of 200 metric tons (m.t.) per year. By investing in one of the key technologies of the future, BMS is looking to gain a head start in supplying the demand for a whole host of applications for multi-wall carbon nanotubes, which the company is marketing under the trade name Baytubes. “Current forecasts predict an annual growth rate of 25% for carbon nanotubes. Within ten years, the market is expected to be worth $2 billion,” says Joachim Wolff, a member of BMS’s executive committee and head of the Coatings, Adhesives, Specialties segment. “We are also expecting nanotechnology to create a total of 100,000 new jobs in the German industry in the medium term,” he adds.    North Rhine-Westphalia is one of the world’s leading nanotechnology locations. By opening the new facility, BMS is once again demonstrating its commitment to Leverkusen and…