2013 Exhibitions
BASF and Xinjiang Markor Chemical Industry Co., Ltd. (Markor) are fostering a joint venture for the production of butanediol (BDO) and polytetrahydrofuran (PolyTHF , chemical name: polytetramethylene ether glycol ) in Korla, Xinjiang Uygur autonomous region, Northwest China. The joint venture agreements have already been signed but are subject to further closing conditions and regulatory approvals.
The joint venture companies intend to build a plant for the production of BDO and one for PolyTHF which are planned to go on stream in 2015. The annual capacities of the plants located in Korla will be 100,000 tonnes of BDO and 50,000 tonnes of PolyTHF.
“Based on our globally leading PolyTHF technology and the strong local presence of Markor in China, we are aiming to expand our local production capacity in order to support our customers in the Chinese market with high quality products,” said Dr. Guido Voit, Senior Vice President, responsible for the region Asia Pacific within BASF’s Intermediates division.
“We are glad to partner with BASF, who provides its state-of-the-art PolyTHF technology to the joint ventures. Thanks to our integrated value chain, we can achieve great synergies, enabling us to serve our customers better. We look forward to working with BASF to further expand our joint business in China,” said He Xiaorong, Vice President of Markor Group.
PolyTHF is primarily used to make elastic spandex fibres for a large variety of textiles, including underwear, outerwear, sportswear and swimsuits. It also serves as a chemical building block for thermoplastic polyurethanes (TPU) used to make hoses, films and cable sheathing. Other applications include thermoplastic polyetheresters, polyetheramides and cast elastomers. BDO is used making technical plastics, polyurethanes, solvents, electronic chemicals and elastic fibres.
BASF’s annual production capacity for PolyTHF is 250,000 tonnes at its sites in Geismar, Louisiana, US; Ludwigshafen, Germany; Ulsan, Korea and Shanghai, Caojing, China.
Whilst, its annual production capacity for BDO with an annual capacity of is 535,000 tonnes at its sites in Geismar; Ludwigshafen; Caojing; Chiba, Japan and Kuantan, Malaysia.
The largest producer of BDO in China, Markor’s current annual production capacity for BDO is 160,000 tonnes. To date, the company has invested RMB5 billion (about EUR600 million) in Markor Chemical Park.
(PRA)
