Agro Perspectiva

BASF starts up production plant for specialty amines in Ludwigshafen

05.11.2015 14:10 "Agro Perspectiva" (Kyiv) — BASF in Ludwigshafen has started up a world-scale plant for the production of specialty amines. The multi-product plant can manufacture approximately 12,000 metric tons per year of a product range of about 15 amines for different applications. Owing to its high flexibility, the plant can also be used for the production of new specialty amines. The major applications are currently in the construction, automotive, crop protection and pharmaceutical industries. With the new facility, BASF expands its global production network for amines with plants in Ludwigshafen and Schwarzheide in Germany; Antwerp, Belgium; Geismar, North America; and Nanjing, China.

«With the new plant, we are responding to our customers’ growing demand for specialty amines, particularly in Europe,» said Dr. Stefan Blank, President, BASF Intermediates division. «We have decades of experience in developing and manufacturing amines and with the current expansion we are extending our global leadership in these versatile intermediates.»

«The special plant structure allows us to react flexibly to changes in the need for the various products. In addition, we can also produce commercial quantities of products from our innovation pipeline here,» said Dr. Christoph Wegner, Senior Vice President, heading the regional business unit Amines Europe within BASF’s Intermediates division, and adds: «Being integrated into the BASF Verbund at the Ludwigshafen site also allows us to offer our customers, apart from research, the scale-up services through a pilot plant, all the way to the new multi-product plant.»

With about 200 different amines, BASF has the world’s most diverse portfolio of these chemical intermediates. In addition to alkylamines, alkanolamines and alkoxyalkylamines, the company also offers heterocyclic and aromatic amines as well as specialty amines. The range is completed by an expanding portfolio of chiral amines with high optical and chemical purity. The versatile products have proven their effectiveness above all in the manufacture of crop protection products and pharmaceuticals, as well as in cosmetics, detergents and process chemicals. They are also needed to produce coatings, special plastics, composites and special fibers.

BASF’s Intermediates division develops, produces and markets a comprehensive portfolio of more than 700 intermediates around the world. Its most important product groups include amines, diols, polyalcohols, acids and specialties. Among other applications, intermediates are used as starting materials for coatings, plastics, pharmaceuticals, textiles, detergents and crop protection products. Innovative intermediates from BASF help to improve the properties of final products and the efficiency of production processes. The ISO 9001-certified Intermediates division operates plants at production sites in Europe, Asia and North America. In 2014, the division generated sales with third parties of about ˆ2.8 billion.

At BASF, we create chemistry — and have been doing so for 150 years. Our portfolio ranges from chemicals, plastics, performance products and crop protection products to oil and gas. As the world’s leading chemical company, we combine economic success with environmental protection and social responsibility. Through science and innovation, we enable our customers in nearly every industry to meet the current and future needs of society. Our products and solutions contribute to conserving resources, ensuring nutrition and improving quality of life. We have summed up this contribution in our corporate purpose: We create chemistry for a sustainable future. BASF had sales of over ˆ74 billion in 2014 and around 113,000 employees as of the end of the year.