Bayer MaterialScience (BMS, Leverkusen / Germany; www.bayerbms.com) has inaugurated a new pilot plant to test the company’s technology for converting CO₂ into polyols for polyurethanes production – see Plasteurope.com of 16.06.2010. The plant, which produces polyether polycarbonate polyols (PPPs) from CO₂ exhaust at kilogram scale and processes these into insulation-grade polyurethane foam, is receiving nearly EUR 5m in funding from the German federal government. Including the financial input of BMS’ parent company Bayer and the RWE energy group, the total cost of the project is EUR 9m.

The plant was designed and built by Bayer Technology Services, which will also be responsible for its operation. Other partners in the project that BMS calls the “Dream Production” scheme – because the reactions have only occurred at lab scale up to now – are RWTH Aachen University and the CAT Catalytic Center (www.catalyticcenter.rwth-aachen.de) run jointly by RTWH and Bayer (see also Plasteurope.com of 18.08.2010). The carbon dioxide used in the process comes from RWE Power, which operates a pilot gas-scrubbing facility at its lignite innovation centre at Niederaussem / Germany. The BMS plant’s flue gas scrubber will be equipped with a liquefaction system to ease the transport of CO₂ to Leverkusen. If the test phase goes well, commercial production of PPPs could begin in 2015.

At the inauguration ceremony, Bayer managing board member Wolfgang Plischke said the Dream Production scheme is providing an opportunity to establish Germany as a market leader for these technologies, as well as securing for the Leverkusen group “a leading role in a competitive international environment.” He said RWTH is “subjecting all stages of the new process to comprehensive ecological and economic scrutiny, and is also comparing it with conventional processes and products.”