Covestro is making plans to restart construction of a new MDI plant by 2026 and aims to debottleneck TDI capacity in Germany.
The MDI plant will be built in China or the U.S., Covestro executives said during an investor's day event. Covestry had put work on its MDI-500 plant in Baytown, Texas, on hold in January 2020, citing challenging market conditions, with plans to revisit the project within 24 months.
Leverkusen, Germany-based Covestro said the future plant will be use the energy-efficient AdiP process introduced at its Brunsbuettel, Germany plant in 2020.
At that time, Covestro said the AdiP process produces MDI with 40 percent less steam and 25 percent less electricity for each metric ton of production vs. conventional processes.
The TDI debottlenecking focus will be at its Dormagen, Germany, plant.
At the investor's day event, Covestro said it would spend about 800 million euros ($934.5 million) on capital expenditures in 2021. That investment amount will increase between 2024 and 2025.
Away from the big-ticket items, the company will invest about 300 million euros ($350 million) in additional capacity in its coatings and adhesives business by 2025, with a further 200 million euros ($233.6 million) earmarked for speciality films.
"There is growing demand for sustainable solutions worldwide, and that offers us significant market potential," CEO Markus Steilemann said. "Our high-tech plastics already enable sustainable innovating in many industry. On our path to becoming fully circular, we are increasing our capital spending selectively and are enabling our customers to become more sustainable."