Leverkusen/Shanghai -- Bayer MaterialScience has successfully tested its innovative gas phase phosgenation technology at a new plant being commissioned for the manufacture of toluene diisocyanate (TDI) a raw material for polyurethane manufacture, at its integrated production site at Caojing in Shanghai, China.

The process technology, which was implemented together with Bayer Technology Services, reduces solvent consumption by around 80 percent in a large production facility such as that being commissioned, cutting energy consumption by up to 60 percent. The use of this technology also enables a significant reduction in operating costs. Compared with conventional production facilities of similar size, carbon dioxide emissions can be cut by around 60,000 metric tons a year. The new technology also cuts investment costs for this type of large-scale facility by about 20 percent.

The new world-scale TDI facility is expected to come on stream stepwise later this year, building next year to its full capacity of 250,000 metric tons of TDI per year. The companys eventual global TDI capacity will increase to over 700,000 metric tons a year.

"The use of our gas phase phosgenation technology for the first time in a manufacturing plant of this size clearly indicates that Bayer MaterialScience is at the forefront of modern and environmentally advanced technologies," says Patrick Thomas, CEO of Bayer MaterialScience.

TDI is used in the production of flexible polyurethane foam, which in turn is used in, for example, upholstered furniture and car seats.