Covestro claims world’s first pilot plant for biobased aniline

In Germany, Covestro said it is moving forward with the implementation of a unique process for producing the important chemical aniline entirely based on plant biomass instead of petroleum for the first time. 

At its Leverkusen site, the firm has now put a special pilot plant into operation for this purpose. Initially, large quantities of biobased aniline will be produced there, so that the new technology can be further developed for production and transferred to an industrial scale. In the plastics industry, aniline is used to produce MDI, among other things. This in turn is used for insulating foam, for example, which saves energy in buildings and reduces the CO2 footprint, the company said.

“Among other things, aniline is a key raw material for foams used to insulate buildings and refrigerators. Until now, aniline has been produced from fossil raw materials such as petroleum, which releases CO2 and fuels climate change. With our new process, we are contributing to building up a circular, bio-based economy, and I am very proud that we have now succeeded in making the jump to the next technological level,” said Thorsten Dreier, Chief Technology Officer of Covestro.

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