Costron, a global leader in advanced polymers and high-performance plastics, plans to build a chlorine production plant using oxygen-depolarizing cathode technology in Tarragona Province, Spain. This advanced technology will reduce one-quarter of the energy. Consumption.
Under normal circumstances, most of the cost of chlorine production is consumed by energy. This time, Covestro invested 200 million Euros in his Spanish factory, in order to quote the technologies they developed in 1992 to improve energy efficiency.
(Photo: Two Covestro employees in Leverkusen examined a demonstration plant during planned shutdowns: Here, oxygen depolarization cathode (ODC) technology has been developed and improved for many years)
This technology was co-developed by Covestro and ThyssenKrupp. The principle is based on a traditional membrane process in which rock salt and water produce chlorine, caustic soda and hydrogen. The key difference is that the commonly used hydrogen generating electrode is depolarized by oxygen. The replacement of the cathode, so that only the final production of chlorine gas and caustic soda and the use of the voltage required about two volts instead of three volts, can reduce energy by about 25%.
The construction of the Tarragona new plant is scheduled to begin in the first half of 2019. The chlorine produced will mainly be used to make MDI. MDI is the parent material of rigid foam, and rigid foam is an excellent insulation material for buildings and In order to reduce its power consumption, refrigerators reduce about 22,000 metric tons of CO2 emissions per year compared to traditional insulation methods—about 15,000 vehicles per year.