Covestro is moving forward for the first time with the implementation of a unique process for the production of the important chemical aniline, based entirely on vegetable biomass instead of petroleum. The plastics manufacturer has now started using a special pilot plant at its location in Leverkusen. Initially, large quantities of biobased aniline will be produced there, so that the new technology can be further developed for production and transferred to an industrial scale. In the plastics industry, aniline is used, among other things, for the production of MDI. This is used, for example, for insulating foam, which saves energy in buildings and reduces the CO2 footprint. Covestro believes this will help promote the circular economy, which the company wants to fully join.
“Aniline is, among other things, an important raw material for foam that is used to insulate buildings and refrigerators,” Dreier explains about the significance of the basic substance. “Until now, aniline was produced from fossil raw materials such as petroleum, with CO2 is released and climate change is fueled. With our new process we are contributing to building a circular, biobased economy, and I am very proud that we have now succeeded in making the leap to the next technological level.”
Covestro developed the process together with partners from the scientific community. Compared to conventional technology, the process leads to greatly improved CO2 footprint of aniline. Covestro has made a seven-figure investment in the pilot plant at Chempark Leverkusen.
Use of biotechnology
The project also clearly demonstrates the potential contribution of industrial (“white”) biotechnology to the production of plastics: in the new process, a tailor-made microorganism helps convert an industrial sugar, extracted from plants, into an intermediate product through fermentation. This takes place under milder and therefore more environmentally friendly conditions than with conventional processes. In a second step, chemical catalysis of the intermediate product produces aniline with one hundred percent vegetable carbon.
Research into biobased aniline also continues to be funded by the German government. The German Ministry of Food and Agriculture is financing a follow-up project (Bio4PURDemo) by Covestro and partners, which started in March 2022 and will run until 2025.
The RWTH Aachen with the CAT Catalytic Center and the University of Stuttgart, as well as the technology transfer initiative based there, is also participating in the project.
Currently, approximately six million tons of aniline are produced worldwide, with the volume growing on average by approximately three to five percent per year. With a production capacity of more than one million tons per year, Covestro is one of the leading aniline producers.
Source: Covestro
