Covestro Announces Completion of PUD Plant in Shanghai

Covestro Announces Completion of PUD Facility in Shanghai Covestro has completed construction of a new polyurethane dispersions (PUD) production facility in Shanghai, China. The additional production capacity, which will commence operations in the first quarter of next year, is expected to effectively meet growing demand in the Asia Pacific region for environmentally friendly coatings and adhesives. The facility will serve various sectors including automotive, construction, furniture, footwear and packaging. The facility will produce water-based PUDs with performance characteristics equivalent to solvent-based types, and will also produce products with greater circular content in 2024. Thorsten Dreier, Chief Technology Officer at Covestro, said, "With this new facility, we aim to offer the broadest PUD portfolio to support sustainability efforts of sub-sectors in Asia Pacific. The modular concept adopted during the construction phase will also enable us to implement future investment projects and build capacity more efficiently to capture market demand." Located within Covestro Integrated Site Shanghai (CISS), the facility was constructed by a service provider in a hall in Nantong, Jiangsu Province, utilizing the modular structure under controlled conditions. After individual modules were completed, they were transported to the final site and assembled. This approach helps shorten total construction time while making the investment more efficient. Leveraging Covestro's strong local innovation capabilities, the new facility will increase the company's polyurethane dispersions (PUD) supply capacity and thus contribute to increasing focus on sustainability in the coatings and adhesives sector in the Asia Pacific region. For example, water-based PUDs are key to low-emission solutions. Water-based PUDs help customers apply furniture paints more efficiently and achieve effective adhesion in the footwear sector thanks to Covestro's innovative single-component technology. Thomas Roemer, Head of Coatings and Adhesives Business Unit at Covestro, said, "With this additional PUD capacity, we are meeting and driving the trend towards sustainable, water-based coatings and adhesives in Asia Pacific, strengthening our commitment to customers in this region. Our ongoing commitment to sustainability and circularity enables us to provide our customers and partners with better access to more sustainable solutions that offer performance comparable to classical, solvent-based products. This actively promotes widespread adoption of environmentally compatible alternatives." Source