German chemicals firm BASF is building a new Ultramid polymerisation plant with a capacity of 100,000 tonnes/year in Shanghai, China. The new plant is planned to start up in 2015.

“As part of our long-term strategy, we aim to locate production close to our customers in the Asia Pacific region, so that we can better support their growth, operate more efficiently and collaborate more closely. BASF intends to grow two percentage points above the market in Asia Pacific and maintain our commitment to environmental protection as well as ensuring a positive contribution to society for a sustainable future,” said Dr. Albert Heuser, President and Chairman Greater China and Functions Asia Pacific.

“The demand for polyamide products in the engineering plastics, fibre and film industries will grow strongly, particularly in China,” said Hermann Althoff, Senior Vice President of the Global Polyamide and Intermediates Business Unit. “The investment enables us to participate in this growth and supply our Asian customers with locally manufactured high performance products.”

The BASF wholly-owned plant will be built at the Shanghai Chemical Industry Park in Caojing which is also home to a world scale facility for integrated isocyanates, operated by BASF and partners. At this location, BASF also has production plants for polytetrahydrofuran (PolyTHF) and polyisocyanate (Basonat) for the coatings and furniture finishing industry and precious metal solutions for automotive catalysts.

With more than 60 years of experience, BASF is a leading supplier of high quality polyamide and polyamide intermediates for the engineering plastics, film, fibre and monofilament industry. The line of products include Ultramid B (polyamide 6), Ultramid C (polyamide 6/6.6 copolymer) and Ultramid A (polyamide 6.6). The product offerings are supplemented by technical services for our customers.

BASF operates Ultramid polymerisation plants in Ludwigshafen, Germany; Antwerp, Belgium; Freeport, Texas and São Paulo, Brazil. The production of polyamide for film, textile and carpet fibre as well as for engineering plastics applications is integrated into BASF’s global Verbund structure with polyamide intermediates (i.e. adipic acid, anolon, caprolactam), chemical raw materials