BorsodChem's new TDI plant in trial operation

11 July 2011 12:50  [Source: ICIS news]

LONDON (ICIS)--BorsodChem has put its new 160,000 tonne/year toluene di-isocyanate (TDI)-2 plant into trial operation, the Hungarian isocyanates producer said on Monday.

The capacity of the TDI plant at Kazincbarcika, northern Hungary, could be increased by another 40,000 tonnes/year if market demand requires it, BorsodChem added.

Upon the successful completion of the trial period – expected to last about two months – the new plant would bring BorsodChem's overall TDI capacity to 250,000 tonnes/year, positioning the firm as Europe’s number one TDI manufacturer, the company said.

“The new plant, which utilises BorsodChem’s proprietary state-of-the-art technology, will operate considerably more efficiently than the existing [90,000 tonne/year] TDI-1 plant,” the company said in a press release.

“Due to the current unfavourable cost evolution of input materials, however, it is expected that the new plant will run at full capacity only at a later stage,” it added.

In June, BorsodChem CEO Wolfgang Buchele warned that Europe may face a temporary oversupply of TDI by the middle of this decade, with two more worldscale plants set to come on stream in coming years.

BorsodChem would consider idling its TDI-1 facility for an indefinite period, following the launch of TDI-2, he added.

Until the February takeover of BorsodChem by China's Wanhua Industrial Group, the company was struggling to finance the completion of TDI-2. But the conclusion of this investment is now seen by BorsodChem as only the first step in an ambitious isocyanates expansion planned by the new owners.

Erste Group Bank analysts have noted that TDI-2 poses a competitive threat to the smaller-scale 80,000 tonne/year TDI facility run by Zachem, a Polish subsidiary of the Ciech group.

For more on TDI visit ICIS chemical intelligence

By: Will Conroy
+44 20 8652 3214

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