With the introduction of a new industrial manufacturing process, Bayer MaterialScience is poised to significantly reduce energy consumption and cut CO2 emissions. At the Chempark Krefeld-Uerdingen site, a demonstration plant with an annual capacity of 20,000 metric tons of chlorine has gone on stream. The oxygen depolarized cathode technology used for this has been incorporated into the new electrolysis technology from Uhde/UHDENORA.

The combination of the two technologies was developed at Bayer in Leverkusen over the past eight years. Provided the two-year large-scale trial is successful, Bayer will gradually switch its chlorine production to the new process. In addition, the companies will also offer the new technology to the global market. Large German chlorine producers have already announced their interest, as have a number of companies in the Asia/Pacific region.

In model calculations, experts have concluded that were the Bayer with the Uhde/UHDENORA technology to be used only throughout Germany, it would save enough electricity to supply a city as large as Cologne, a city with more than one million inhabitants. This corresponds to the power generated by a 700-megawatt power plant. Patrick Thomas is calling on politicians to support not only the development of energy-efficient production processes, but also to actively support the widespread application of such technologies in industry.

Chlorine is an essential element in today's chemical industry. Electrochemical chlorine production is, however, one of the most energy-intensive processes in the chemical industry. Chlorine is used for the production of plastics in particular and also e.g. for the manufacture of pharmaceuticals.

Bayer MaterialScience