Bayer MaterialScience has commissioned a new technical center for the development of isocyanate production processes at Chempark Dormagen. Built in just under a year with an investment of 5 million euro ($6.5 million), the research center is focused on hydrogenation technology for the production of precursors to diphenylmethane diisocyanate (MDI) and toluene diisocyanate (TDI).
The adiabatic variant developed by Bayer MaterialScience is a process development in the area of hydrogenation. Eliminating the need for heat transfer and enables a substantial gain in efficiency, the technology has already been successful at the company’s facility in Shanghai, China, according to Dr. Thorsten Dreier, who heads the isocyanate research department at polyurethane production.
Researchers plan to concentrate on the further optimization of both process variants at the new technical center. Other focal points will be researching and improving the hydrogenation of dinitrotoluene to obtain toluene diamine, the direct precursor to TDI, and also the Deacon process for the oxidation of hydrogen chloride. In addition, the building was designed for sustainability using innovative materials from the EcoCommercial Building network.
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