Bayer starts pilot plant for plastic manufacturing with CO2

Chemical maker Bayer AG has brought a new plant on stream in a trial project designed to high-quality plastics with the help of carbon dioxide (CO2) from the energy sector.

According to Bayer, the company’s plant in Chempark Leverkuse, Germany is now producing

a chemical precursor which incorporates CO2 and then processes it into polyurethanes for consumer goods. The plant has is run by Bayer Technology Services; Bayer MaterialScience is testing the finished materials, which are used primarily to produce soft and rigid foams, at one of its existing plants.

Bayer is working on the project with the energy company RWE, which supplies the CO2, as well as RWTH Aachen University and the CAT Catalytic Center, which is run jointly by the university and Bayer.

Bayer said the new process will allow CO2, instead of petroleum, to be used as the source for carbon in plastics production.

“There is an opportunity to establish Germany as a market leader for these technologies and secure ourselves a leading role in a competitive international environment,” said Bayer Board of Management member Dr. Wolfgang Plischke. “The inauguration of this pilot plant is another milestone in a long line of Bayer projects that have used innovative technologies to develop sustainable production processes.” If the testing phase of the EUR 9 million pilot project goes well, Bayer said, the industrial production of plastics based on CO2 should start in 2015.