Technology

Today, the vast majority of industrially produced Polyols are prepared by KOH-catalyzed Polymerization of PO or PO/EO monomers (typically a Batch or Semi-Continuous Process). The Process in concept is remarkably simple, but the details associated with producing a commoditized Product can create significant amounts of redundancy, controls, and safety additions. To make Polyols efficiently and competitively, the production volumes must be very large and the accompanying costs very large as well. Plant capacities range from about 50,000 metric tons to about 500,000 metric tons.