Capacity to Increase to 1.3 Million Tons Successful Start-Up of Melt Carbonate
Facility in Antwerp
LEVERKUSEN, Germany, Dec. 6 /PRNewswire/ -- With a major investment
totaling some 1 billion Euros (US $860 million), Bayer is setting its sights
on becoming the world's largest polycarbonate producer within the next five
years.
"We plan to double our Makrolon(R) polycarbonate resin capacities from
their present level of 650,000 tons per year to something approaching
1.3 million tons per year by 2005," said Dr. Hagen Noerenberg, General Manager
of Bayer's Plastics Business Group. Bayer will then have a total of five
production centers for Makrolon strategically positioned in the world's key
economic regions. "This will enable us to fully meet the needs of our
customers worldwide," said Noerenberg, explaining Bayer's ambitious plans.
Within the NAFTA region, Makrolon polycarbonate resin production at
Bayer's Baytown, Texas, facility will reach an annual 350,000 tons by 2005.
Most of the focus will be on the booming markets in Asia-Pacific, where Bayer
expects double-digit growth rates for polycarbonate. In the company's Map Ta
Phut, Thailand, plant, capacity is to be increased in two stages from its
current level of 50,000 tons per year to 350,000 tons per year by 2005. In
its expansion plans for Asia, the company also intends to step up the
production of Makrolon at its planned facility in the Caojing Chemical Park in
Shanghai, China, from 50,000 tons in 2003 to 100,000 tons per year by the end
of 2004.
Within the European market, the most recent development was the start-up
of the new melt carbonate plant in Antwerp in August of this year. Following
a short test period, this facility can now produce 40,000 tons per year of
polycarbonate for all of Makrolon's viscosity grades. "This resource
represents a milestone in technology," explained Dr. Noerenberg. "It provides
polycarbonate resin of excellent quality with outstandingly good optical
properties." Bayer plans to use the product in applications where these
characteristics are of particular importance.
Makrolon polycarbonate resin is an exceptionally versatile material that
is widely used in the electrical and electronic sector, in lighting
engineering and optical applications, in the manufacture of household and
consumer goods, in the traffic and transport sector, and in the production of
medical equipment. Other successful applications include optical storage
media such as CDs and DVDs, and multi-wall, solid and corrugated sheet as
lightweight, break-resistant glazing elements for the construction sector.
The greatest asset of Makrolon polycarbonate resin -- developed by Bayer
in 1953 -- is its balanced property profile. It is a transparent, impact-
resistant, high-strength material boasting a heat resistance of well over
200 degrees Fahrenheit and offering simple, economical processing.
Bayer Corporation is a research-based company with major businesses in
health care and life sciences and chemicals. The company had 1999 sales of
$8.9 billion and employs approximately 22,200 people. Bayer Corporation is
investing $9 billion in capital expenditures and research and development from
2000 through the year 2004. 2000 capital investment and R&D expenditures are
projected to total $1.6 billion. Bayer Corporation, with headquarters in
Pittsburgh, is a member of the worldwide Bayer Group, a $29 billion
international life science, polymers and specialty chemicals group based in
Leverkusen, Germany.
Web site: http://www.bayerus.com
SOURCE Bayer Corporation
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CONTACT:
Dr. J. Thim of Bayer AG, +49-214-30-61087, or
johann.thim.jt@bayer-ag.de, or Kit Newton of Bayer, 412-777-2500,
or kit.newton.b@bayer.com
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