(Plasteurope) -- Bayer MaterialScience on 20 October 2011 officially broke ground on its new PC solid sheet plant in Yonghe economic area, in Guangzhou's economic and technologic development district. The 12,000 t/y facility is due to start up by the end of 2012. Output will be equally split between optical panels and solid sheets, BMS said, adding that by 2015, the facility's nameplate capacity is to double to 24,000 t/y.
Once on stream, the facility will join BMS' existing PC sheet network in East Asia, including its multiwall sheet plant in Beijing / China and its solid sheet facility in Gimhae / South Korea. Typical applications for the solid PC sheet include optical application plates, machine covers, protection gear, architecture glazing, lighting applications and mass transportation.
Output of the new plant is geared towards meeting rising Asian demand for polycarbonate sheets, which BMS says is expected to grow at 10% a year. In China alone, the German group says, PC sheet demand currently stands at 110,000 t/y, equally split between multiwall and slid sheets. According to Michael Schmidt, head of Global Technology and Production at BMS PCS Semi-Finished Products, ⌠we forecast that by 2015 the annual growth rate for the market of polycarbonate sheets in China is around 10%. Therefore, our prediction is that in 2015 China will need 155,000 t of polycarbonate sheets - 65,000 t for multiwall sheets and 90,000 t for solid sheets.