Plant set-ups Songwon starts up pilot plant in India; BASF its expanded engineering resins plant in Germany

South Korean speciality chemicals firm Songwon Industrial Co.’s new pilot plant in Panoli (Gujarat), India, has come on-stream. Built on Songwon’s Indian site with all the necessary main unit operations, the new plant is equipped with technologies and materials for producing a wide range of chemicals for a broad spectrum of applications—from 1 kg-100 kg samples, says the firm, which is the second largest manufacturer of polymer stabilisers worldwide.

To reinforce the organisation’s position in existing areas of business and enhance its ability to enter new areas, the new pilot plant will be supported by the Songwon’s local R&D team in Panoli, as well as its central Technology Innovation Centre located in Maeam, South Korea.

“Technology and product innovation is at the core of Songwon’s business strategy. With our high-quality manufacturing expertise and strong R&D, we have already earned a solid reputation in the industry,” says Giacomo Sasselli, Leader Operations. “This new facility will play an important role in ensuring that Songwon can continue developing new industrial technologies to meet evolving market needs and make it possible for us to reliably supply customers with innovative products for testing and approval.”

In other news, German chemicals firm BASF has put the expanded compounding plant at its Schwarzheide site in Germany into operation. With the expansion of the plant up to 70,000 tonnes more Ultramid (PA: polyamide) and Ultradur (PBT: polybutylene terephthalate) can be produced each year. This is a further step in the capacity expansions with which BASF says it is responding to the rising global demand for engineering plastics. BASF’s worldwide compounding capacity for PA and PBT will thus reach more than 700,000 tonnes/year.

“The bigger plant enables us to accompany our customers’ growth in the long run, at the highest technical level and with the best plastics,” says Jürgen Becky, since May 1st, 2017 head of BASF’s business unit Performance Materials Europe. “The expanded plant represents state-of-the-art technology in the plastics market and gives us even more flexibility in our production process.” At the same time, the additional capacity increases flexibility in the global production network of BASF. Thus BASF can, for example, meet the higher expectations of the automotive industry when it comes to the production of high-volume components. With the expansion, Schwarzheide is the site with the biggest PA and PBT compounding capacity within BASF globally.

The engineering plastics Ultramid and Ultradur are used to make high-performance components for the automotive, electrical and electronics industries, as well as for the construction and furniture sectors. The components include oil pans, engine mounts, sensors and connectors, chairs and fastening elements. Latest innovations are the speciality Ultramid Advanced N, the charge air duct made of the high-temperature polyamide Ultramid Endure in the new Alfa Romeo Giulia and the TeamUP design chair for the office of the future.