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BAYER MaterialScience has seen off criticism from environmental groups concerned over the company’s production of carbon nanotubes (CNT) at Laufenburg, Germany.

At the company’s annual general meeting on 27 April, speakers from the environmental organisation Bund für Umwelt und Naturschutz Deutschland (BUND) questioned the safety of CNTs and argued against Bayer’s plans to obtain a permanent operating license for the Laufenburg plant.

BUND points to animal experiments indicating that certain nanotubes could have the same carcinogenic properties as asbestos.  Bayer argues that the concerns are misplaced as the experiments were carried out with long filament-like nanotubes, while its CNTs are much shorter, squatter, and form dense knots.

Bayer has two plants producing CNTs: a 200 t/y experimental facility at Leverkusen and a 60 t/y pilot plant belonging to its subsidiary HC Stark at Laufenburg. The Laufenburg plant was previously operating under a temporary license for research facilities but its operating term has now expired.

The company is currently applying for a permanent license. BUND is opposed unless the company provides more data. In a press statement, it argues: “From an environmental point of view, to obtain an operating license plant operators should have to sufficiently demonstrate that the plant causes no harm to the environment. They should also have to quantify the expected levels of emissions and how these might affect health and environment, the expected exposure to CTNs inside the plant, and the quantities of CNTs that could be vented in the event of an accident. To date, we’ve not seen the required level of transparency here.”

Bayer says it expects Germany’s Federal Supreme Court to rule on the operating licence in June.