MOSCOW (MRC) -- BASF, the world’s largest chemical producer, says that it will establish an additional production line for Ultrason polyarylsulfone products at the company's site at Yeosu, South Korea, reported Chemweek.
Ultrason is the trade name for BASF’s range of polyethersulfone, polysulfone, and polyphenylsulfone. The new production line will start up at the end of 2017, adding a production capacity of 6,000 metric tons/year and bringing BASF’s total capacity of Ultrason to 24,000 metric tons/year. BASF produces Ultrason at Ludwigshafen, Germany; and Yeosu. BASF opened the existing Ultrason plant at Yeosu in 2014. The additional capacity at Yeosu is for the entire product range. The expansion is in response to worldwide market growth, BASF says.
Ultrason products are used in applications in the consumer, electronics, automotive, and aerospace industries. Common applications include heat-resistant, lightweight components in household appliances or fittings for drinking-water pipes, BASF says. The market growth of polyarylsulfones is strongest for filtration membranes in technical and health-care applications, especially in Asia’s emerging markets, BASF says.
“This investment strengthens our competitive position and increases our flexibility to provide all grades of Ultrason to our customers in Asia and worldwide,” says Kin Wah Chay, v.p./global business management, specialty plastics at BASF.
As MRC wrote before, in March 2016, Kolon Plastics and BASF signed an agreement to establish a joint venture in Korea to manufacture polyoxymethylene (POM), an engineering plastic used in industrial, transportation, construction and consumer markets. The 50:50 joint venture named "Kolon BASF innoPOM, Inc." will have an annual capacity of 70,000 metric tons. It will be located at the existing manufacturing site of Kolon Plastics in Gimcheon, Korea, which already includes a POM production. The start of operation is scheduled for the second half of 2018 creating in total the world’s largest complex for the production of POM.
BASF is the largest diversified chemical company in the world and is headquartered in Ludwigshafen, Germany. BASF produces a wide range of chemicals, for example solvents, amines, resins, glues, electronic-grade chemicals, industrial gases, basic petrochemicals and inorganic chemicals. The most important customers for this segment are the pharmaceutical, construction, textile and automotive industries. BASF generated sales of more than EUR70 billion in 2015.
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