The German multinational Covestro, a polymer manufacturer, has inaugurated a distillation plant with state-of-the-art technology in the industrial area it owns in the Zona Franca of Barcelona, with an investment of 15 million euros, which will allow increasing production up to 45,000 tons per year.
The installed technology allows reducing monomers in the production of polymers that the company uses for coatings and adhesives, with the consequent reduction of polluting gas emissions. In addition, the plant reuses leftover product during manufacturing, which increases the sustainability of production processes.
This project has created 10 jobs for qualified operators and technicians, so the company increases the operational staff of the Barcelona center by 15%, which is dedicated to the manufacture and commercialization of resins and polyisocyanates for use in coatings, adhesives, and specialties.
Fernando Peirón, director of the Covestro factory in Barcelona, explained during the inauguration of the facilities that the group "takes a new and important step forward in its commitment to sustainability and, at the same time, addresses the growing demand from client industries for products that comply with current industrial hygiene standards and, in parallel, with demanding quality standards."
The Zona Franca distillation plant will expand the production of the range of polyurethane hardeners up to 45,000 tons per yearIn addition, it will allow Covestro to expand its production of ultra line, a range of polyurethane hardeners that improve current standards of industrial hygiene and product safety, from the current 30,000 tons per year to 45,000 tons per year. These products are characterized by their low monomer content, allowing values below 0.1% throughout the value chain.
The new distillation plant in Zona Franca is the first step in a series of investments that will be carried out between 2021 and 2022 "with the aim of converting this center into a flexible facility capable of launching more sustainable products to the market," according to Andrea Firenze, general director of Covestro in Spain. The investment plan is endowed with 225 million euros, of which 200 million euros correspond to a new chlorine plant in Tarragona, which will be operational in 2022. The remaining 25 million will be allocated to Barcelona, and from there, 15 million euros dedicated to the distillation plant. "All the investments we are making in the country contribute to our long-term sustainability and circular economy strategy and are in line with our purpose of making the world a better place," Firenze added.
In Catalonia, the German multinational also has an MDI plastic production center in Tarragona and, since April 2021, has factories in Parets del Vallès and Santa Margarida i els Monjos (Barcelona), after the acquisition of the resins and functional materials (RFM) business from the Dutch company DSM, following an agreement signed in September 2020.
Globally, Covestro, a former polymer subsidiary of Bayer, recorded a net profit of 842 million euros in the first half of 2021, in contrast to the losses of 32 million recorded by the company a year earlier. Covestro's sales between January and June totaled 7,263 million euros, up 47.1%, driven by a 31.4% rise in prices and a 14.6% increase in volumes.