Inorganic Basic Chemicals - in the beginning there is chlorine.
Inorganic Basic Chemicals (IBC) produces chlorine - the basic chemical that is so essential for the chemical industry - and its by-products, sodium hydroxide solution and hydrogen. It has a workforce of around 530 and total sales of 380 million euros. IBC supplies its products primarily to Bayer Material Science, but also to other internal Bayer customers and Bayer chemical park partners. The sodium hydroxide solution that is not used by Bayer is sold to customers in a wide variety of industries. With four facilities in Leverkusen, Dormagen, Uerdingen and Baytown, IBC has an annual capacity of 1.4 million tons of chlorine, making Bayer MaterialScience the second-largest chlorine producer in Europe and the number sixth in the world.
In addition, IBC is responsible for the management of the hydrochloric acid produced in the chemical parks from downstream chlorine chemistry. This is either sold externally or converted back into chlorine in its own hydrochloric acid electrolysis units.
Nothing is possible without chlorine ...
... at least not at Bayer MaterialScience. The company is entirely dependent on chlorine supplies for its polyurethane and polycarbonate products. Chlorine, with its very special properties, is the key to a number of intermediate products that are essential for the manufacture of many consumer goods that have become indispensable in our daily lives.
Chlorine occurs in nature exclusively in chemically bound form. To be able to work with it, it first has to be liberated. The main raw material used for this process is sodium chloride, the common salt we sprinkle onto our boiled eggs. Chlorine is obtained through the electrolysis of sodium chloride.
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