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MDI - high purity basic products for polyurethanes |
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Polyurethane may sound unexciting and uninspired, but it's a truly agile shape changer behind it all. This plastic is used for applications ranging from the soles of high-tech jogging shoes, to car shock-absorbers and refrigerator insulation, to rollerblades for after-work relaxation. One of the main starting materials for polyurethanes is diphenylmethane diisocyanate (MDI) and its main derivative, PMDI.
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MDI and PMDI suppliers are faced with a tricky problem, however. Although the production process delivers a material yield of 100 percent, the conventional production process is associated with a high risk of impurities from by-products and color defects. Post-production purification of PMDI would be too complex and products with impurities would not find a buyer. The research team's mission was to devise a new concept to find a way out of this dilemma and achieve market leadership in terms of production volume and quality.
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As the project took shape, the team first analyzed the underlying two-stage reaction system. Minor, but highly innovative modifications in the first stage significantly reduced the level of unwanted impurities. The team members also found a way to increase the production plant's reliability right from step one, thereby lowering the overall cost of the process. In production step two, the team implemented a number of inventive changes to plant settings, allowing them to improve the production process still further and significantly raise plant capacity. Another inspired idea added the finishing touches, when it was found that removing impurities from the starting materials used in MDI production significantly improved the color quality of the final PMDI product.
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BASF has now raised its share of the MDI market from 19 to 24 percent. Yield has significantly increased in the space of the last ten years. The success of the overall project is due in large measure to the extremely high-powered, close cooperation between staff teams from production and research departments at the Antwerpen, Schwarzheide and Ludwigshafen sites. The main innovations arising out of the new production concept are now protected by numerous patents. And what better proof of the project's success, than the fact that competitors are standing in line to acquire licensing rights on the new process?
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