Covestro in Spain

In Spain, Covestro has four production sites in Tarragona, Barcelona, Parets del Vallès, and Santa Margarida i els Monjos that currently employ around 500 people. They offer innovative solutions for sectors such as construction, automotive, water treatment, food and packaging, all of which benefit from innovative products manufactured in Spain.

In Tarragona, Covestro has a plant producing MDI, a precursor to rigid polyurethane, for the construction industry, and a chlorine plant for internal use. They also produce caustic soda and hydrochloric acid that are used to treat water, food, and detergents, etc.

The plants in the Barcelona area – Zona Franca, Parets del Vallès and Santa Margarida y els Monjos – manufacture products for coatings and adhesives, e.g. for the construction, mobility and furniture industries.

Our innovative materials are a sustainable response to the challenges facing our planet. In Tarragona, the world's first chlorine plant with Oxygen Depolarized Cathode technology (ODC) uses 25% less energy in chlorine production than the hitherto best technology on the market. ODC also lowers CO₂ emissions by around 22,000 metric tons a year compared to the traditional method – equivalent to the amount emitted by approx. 15,000 vehicles a year.

The Barcelona distillation plant inaugurated in 2021 employs state-of-the-art technology that allows monomers to be reduced to values below 0.1% in the production of resins for coatings and adhesives. Moreover, the components not used in the final product are condensed and reincorporated into the manufacturing process.

All Spanish sites at a glance

Covestro has a strong commitment to sustainability and has taken important steps in Spain toward its goal of being fully circular. The three factories in the Barcelona region run on electricity from renewable sources. The factory in Barcelona-Zona Franca also produces solvent- or water-based products with the same or even improved properties. In Tarragona, the new chlorine plant consumes 25% energy less thanks to its innovative ODC technology.

Andrea Firenze has a degree in Chemical Engineering and an MBA from the Federal University of Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.

He started his career at Bayer in 1988 as a production engineer at the Belford Roxo plant in Brazil, where he returned after three years at the Dormagen site in Germany to take over management of a plant. Later, he moved to Pittsburgh, USA, where he worked as a polyurethane production coordinator. In June 2008, Firenze arrived in Tarragona as MDI plant manager. In January 2015, he was appointed Tarragona Site Manager and in June 2016 also became Managing Director of Covestro Spain.

Fernando Peiron was born in Barcelona, has a master’s degree in Chemical Engineering and completed the IESE Business School Executive Program.

After graduation, he started his career in the food industry as product technician at Diversey Inc. In 1988, he became an operations chemical engineer at Bayer’s Tarragona site before subsequently taking on several operational positions in polymeric polyether, isocyanates distillation and resins at different locations in Germany. In 2002, he assumed responsibility for Tarragona’s proper plastic ABS train, including logistics and material handling. From 2004, he led the resins unit as Production and Process Manager in Barcelona. In 2007, he was appointed Site Manager to accompany the site’s strategic growth.

Germán Baiges has degrees in Industrial Engineering (specializing in chemistry) and Performance Material Engineering from Universitad Politècnica de Catalunya, Barcelona.

He started his career at Zeneca Resins in 1997 as a shift leader at the Parets site in Barcelona, where he later occupied several positions in the operations organization, e.g. process engineer, manufacturing engineer, and production manager. Later, he moved to Royal DSM to manage the Hoek van Holland site in the Netherlands. In September 2017, he returned to Spain as manager of the Santa Margarida I els Monjos and Parets del Vallès sites.

Impressions