Making giant strides out of recession, Bayer MaterialScience (BMS, Leverkusen / Germany; www.bayerbms.com) intends to double EBITDA in 2010 against 2009, and its sales are projected to increase by 20% – see Plasteurope.com of 03.05.2010. For the market leader in polycarbonate and one of the top players in polyurethane starting materials, this year’s second quarter has been much stronger than the first. European sales volumes currently are only 5% below Q4 2008, before the crisis hit, CEO Patrick Thomas told Plasteurope.com in an interview at the company’s pre-K 2010 press conference. Volumes in the US, which Thomas called “one of our biggest concerns” – are running 18% behind.

BMS is making spectacular gains in China, which is expected to become its largest market by the end of this year. Here, volumes are 30% ahead of 2009. As Thomas notes, “China did not have a crisis, nor did Asia altogether.” In Europe, all of the idled plants, except for a small capacity at Brunsbüttel / Germany unlikely to be reactivated, are now back up and boasting utilisation rates in the “low 90% range.” At the end of the first half year, the company is enjoying “strong mid-cycle margins,” although the CEO sees the volatility of oil and feedstock prices as an element of uncertainty for the second half.

Polycarbonate, in the doldrums last year, is driving the upswing, thanks especially to booming sales of small electronic devices such as mobile phones, MP3 players and netbooks, all made of “this one high performance polymer,” as well as optical storage media, which is proving surprisingly resilient. Capacities for PC, including the two 100,000 t/y lines at Caojing / China, are being run flat out. BMS plans to raise output through debottlenecking, Thomas said. New lines are not currently planned; a projected expansion at Map Ta Phut / Thailand is on ice due to the political situation there.

Among PU starting materials, MDI got off “to a rather sloppy start” this year, but meanwhile has gathered momentum, said the CEO. In the first quarter, volumes were up 30% year-on-year and 10% higher than in the fourth quarter of 2009. TDI output is currently “pretty much sold out.” Among other things, Thomas acknowledged that BMS has benefited from Dow’s closure of its plant at Freeport, Texas / USA – see Plasteurope.com of 10.02.2010.

As 65% of the market for polycarbonate is now in Asia, Thomas says Bayer has no plans to invest in new European capacity. However, it is investing heavily in upgrading its European isocyanates portfolio. TDI output is being consolidated at the integrated Dormagen / Uerdingen site. The new EUR 150m, 300,000 t/y plant due on stream in 2014, will be the first European plant to use the new BMS gas-phase phosgenation process – see Plasteurope.com of 15.09.2008. The first plant will start up in China at the end of this year. Depending on future market developments, a new MDI plant could be built at Brunsbüttel on space freed up by demolishing a small TDI facility.

The focus of Bayer’s presentation at K 2010 will be on “innovative and sustainable technologies and processes” as well as products that can help meet the challenges of energy shortages and climate change. Stressing that throughout the recession, BMS held its R&D spending steady at EUR 340m, at the pre-K event Thomas gave journalists a closer look at what new trends the company is shaping or leveraging to mould the markets of the future.

In solar energy, Bayer’s polyurethanes replace aluminium frames as a combined roofing system and solar collector, while its polycarbonates provide thermal stability to allow high operating temperatures in the collectors. In wind energy, its PU composites are used in turbine blades, and new lightweight materials including carbon nanotubes maximise the durability of the blades.

In other sectors, the company says its PC automotive glazing allows 30-50% weight reduction compared with glass. Another BMS contribution to weight reduction are its PU composite-based automotive roof modules. In the shipping industry, a newly developed carbon nanotube-based paint combats hull fouling. Bayer’s carbon nanotube technology is also being integrated into LED management.

In a pioneering development, BMS is teaming up with sister company Bayer Technology Services and German energy producer RWE Power (Essen / Germany; www.rwe.com) to find sustainable uses for CO₂ emissions. A kilogram-scale pilot plant will produce polyether polycarbonate polyols (PPPs) from CO₂ exhaust and process these into insulation-grade polyurethane foam. Although BMS may look at production of polycarbonate from CO₂ in future, from a sustainability viewpoint, production of the polyols is “a much nicer logic,” Thomas believes. As over their lifetime, polyurethanes save around 80% more energy than required to produce them, they can have a “doubly positive effect.”