Bayer MaterialScience Builds Production Plant For Carbon Nanotubes In Chempark Leverkusen
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Houston, May 5, 2009 -- Bayer MaterialScience AG has begun construction of a new facility for the production of carbon nanotubes (CNTs) in Chempark Leverkusen, Germany. The new plant will have a capacity of 200 tons/year. The company will invest about 22 million euros in the planning, development and construction of the plant.
"Bayer MaterialScience AG is investing in a key technology of the future that will open up a broad range of new applications for us," said Joe Ventura, business development manager, Bayer MaterialScience LLC. "Bayer MaterialScience AG is one of the few companies that can produce carbon nanotubes of consistently high quality on an industrial scale," continued Ventura.
A pilot plant with an annual capacity of 60 tons has been in operation in Laufenburg in southern Germany since 2007. Production involves a catalytic process in which the carbon nanotubes are obtained from a carbon-containing gas at elevated temperature in a reactor.
Bayer MaterialScience LLC recently obtained regulatory approval from the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) to sell Baytubes®, its multi-wall carbon nanotubes, in the U.S., reinforcing the company's role as one of the world's leading suppliers of carbon nanotubes. The approval covers Baytubes® C 150 P and HP grades that are currently produced in the Laufenburg plant.
With the company's know-how, Bayer MaterialScience can now take a product from the research laboratory to a broad spectrum of applications relevant to society, such as energy, the environment, mobility, safety and construction. Baytubes® are already being used to produce tough, extremely strong, lightweight materials. This means, for example, that rotor blades for wind turbines are more energy efficient, that transport containers weigh less and that sports equipment can be made more robust.
Bayer MaterialScience LLC is one of the leading producers of polymers and high-performance plastics in North America and is part of the global Bayer MaterialScience business with nearly 15,100 employees at 30 sites around the world and 2008 sales of 9.7 billion euros. Business activities are focused on the manufacture of high-tech polymer materials and the development of innovative solutions for products used in many areas of daily life. The main segments served are the automotive, electrical and electronics, construction, medical, and sports and leisure industries.
Bayer Corporation, headquartered in Pittsburgh, is a subsidiary of Bayer AG, an international health care, nutrition and high-tech materials group based in Leverkusen, Germany. In North America, Bayer had 2008 net sales of approximately 8 billion euros (about $12 billion) and employed 17,000 at year end. Bayer's three subgroups, Bayer HealthCare, Bayer CropScience and Bayer MaterialScience, improve people's lives through a broad range of essential products that help diagnose, prevent and treat diseases; protect crops and enhance yields; and advance automobile safety and durability. For more information, go to www.bayerus.com.
Contact:
Bill Allan, Phone: 412-777-5200
E-mail: bill.allan@bayerbms.com
For more information about Bayer MaterialScience and Baytubes®, call
412-777-3983, e-mail naftainfo@bayerbms.com or visit www.baytubes.com or www.bayermaterialscienceNAFTA.com.
