Huntsman Innovation – Methylene Diphenyl Diisocyanate (MDI) Products

India ranks first in milk production and second in fruits and vegetable production in the world. The country also produces significant amounts of meat and meat products. Realizing the importance of food preservation, the Indian government created the National Horticulture Board (NHB) in 1984 with an objective to reduce crop waste and to support cold chain logistics. As a result, standalone cold storage facilities have been developed across the county but cold storage requires a good distribution network that completes the cold supply chain from the farm, to storage and distribution to, ultimately, the consumer.

Huntsman is helping to meet the need by supplying formulated MDI (Methylene Diphenyl Diisocyanate) systems to customers in India to produce insulated sandwich panels that are lightweight and have high thermal performance. Based on the product’s success across Europe, where 85 percent of cold stores and food processing plants use polyurethane core insulated sandwich panels, India’s NHB has recommended their preferred use to improve India’s cold storage capacity and quality.

The lightweight sandwich panels can be rapidly constructed and are low maintenance for long-term performance. Factory engineered composite panels eliminate on-site system construction and ensure both surface and interstitial condensation will not occur, preventing formation of bacteria and mold.

Polyurethane is used to insulate agriculture buildings and food processing factories, refrigerated transport and cold stores, supermarket cold rooms & display units and domestic refrigerators. Moreover, due to its supreme insulation efficiency, polyurethane additionally offers higher energy savings compared to any other commercially available insulating materials. In a country like India, where electric power is a scarce resource, use of polyurethane is helping the government’s accelerated investment in the cold food supply chain.