Colorful, courageous, curious – the corporate values are also being brought to life at Covestro’s northernmost site in Brunsbüttel, Germany. As the operator of the Covestro Brunsbüttel Industrial Park, Covestro is taking bold steps, including having a multi-colored design painted on the site’s chimney, a colorful accent in the midst of the coastal plain dotted with wind turbines and high-voltage pylons. It’s a real eye-catcher, especially for the cruise ships on the Elbe as they make their way from and to Hamburg.

Since 2005 the company has been not just a manufacturer in the northern region, but also the operator of the Covestro Brunsbüttel Industrial Park, a state-of-the-art chemical site with outstanding infrastructure. Some 1,000 people work at the 420-hectare site. With around 600 employees, Covestro is one of the largest employers in the entire region. Many employees ride their bicycles to work from neighboring residential areas – in most cases crossing the Kiel Canal by ferry.

The cornerstone for Covestro’s northernmost production site was laid in 1973. Concrete piles up to 26 meters long had to be rammed into the soft, marshy ground for stabilization. The first plants came on stream four years later, initially for the production of toluene diisocyanate (TDI), a key component of flexible polyurethane foam. After nearly 40 years of reliable production, a decision was reached to move the production center for TDI production in Europe to the Dormagen site on the Lower Rhine.
Aside from TDI, since 1988 the Brunsbüttel site also has produced diphenylmethane diisocyanate (MDI), which is needed for rigid foams, for example for efficient building insulation, so Covestro is taking advantage of the existing excellent and modern infrastructure in Brunsbüttel and expanding the site into the biggest production center for MDI in Europe.