Covestro inaugurates pilot plant for industrial scale application

In Germany, Covestro successfully put into operation a pilot plant based on the innovative AdiP technology at its Brunsbüttel site which is a big leap forward in the production of the rigid foam component MDI for insulation and will improve energy efficiency and marks an important milestone for Covestro in its orientation towards the circular economy.

At a virtual ceremony today, the plant was officially inaugurated together with Jan Philipp Albrecht, Minister of Energy, Agriculture, the Environment, Nature and Digitalization of the German State of Schleswig-Holstein.

Covestro intends to base all the company’s operations on the principles of the circular economy and is pursuing the long-term goal of climate-neutral production.

AdiP stands for adiabatic-isothermal phosgenation, which describes the key feature of the technology: the reaction is controlled more efficiently and does not require an external heat supply, as the heat generated during the reaction process is used.

As a result, this innovative production process significantly reduces energy consumption and CO2 emissions in MDI production. Thanks to AdiP technology up to 40% steam and 25% electricity can be saved per ton of MDI produced in an MDI plant – and CO2 emissions are thus reduced by up to 35%.

Another advantage of the innovative method is that the production output increases by 50% compared to the technology currently in use. As a result, future MDI production plants based on AdiP technology can be smaller than in the past.