MOSCOW (MRC) -- BASF started up its new acrylic dispersions production line in Pasir Gudang, Malaysia, doubling its capacity, according to Process world wide.
The state-of-the-art facility will produce acrylic dispersions serving the coatings, construction, adhesives, and packaging industries in Asia Pacific.
The new production line complements the existing set-up and allows the production of new dispersions technologies under Acronal Edge, Acronal Plus, Joncryl and next generation Acronal Eco product ranges. We are committed to ensuring that our systems are environment-friendly. This new line is equipped with the condensate stripping recovery technology that reduces freshwater consumption and wastewater generation.
The production site at Pasir Gudang is situated in the integrated multi-purpose Johor Port Free Trade Zone, thus making it a strategic location for exports to the region. “With proximity to three world-class ports, the expansion will be a key supply point for our customers in Malaysia, Singapore and other ASEAN countries, also in Australia and New Zealand (ANZ). The first commercial quantities will be produced for our customers in March this year,” said Peter van der Zwan, Director of ASEAN & ANZ Dispersions & Resins, BASF.
“As a growth business within BASF, we will continue to invest into enhancing our asset network for polymer dispersions in this region, which is strongly backed by our own R&D capabilities in Asia Pacific. The new production line enables us to capture growth opportunities in the fast-growing emerging markets, as well as enhance our reliability towards our customers in ASEAN and ANZ,” said Jeff Knight, Senior Vice President, Dispersions & Resins, Asia Pacific, BASF.
BASF began operating its first acrylics dispersions production line in Malaysia in 2015 at Pasir Gudang.
We remind, as MRC reported earlier, that in mid-February, BASF said it was restarting one of its steam crackers at its Ludwigshafen complex in Germany after operations were halted last Wednesday due to a technical issue. The naphtha cracker produces ethylene and propylene, and is one of two crackers on the site. One has a production capacity of 420,000 metric tons/year, with the other's capacity at 240,000 metric tons/year, according to IHS Markit data.
Ethylene and propylene are feedstocks for producing polyethylene (PE) and polypropylene (PP).
According to MRC's ScanPlast report, Russia's estimated PE consumption totalled 2,220,640 tonnes in 2020, up by 2% year on year. Only shipments of low density polyethylene (LDPE) and high density polyethylene (HDPE) increased. At the same time, polypropylene (PP) shipments to the Russian market reached 1 240,000 tonnes in 2020 (calculated using the formula: production, minus exports, plus imports, excluding producers" inventories as of 1 January, 2020). Supply of exclusively PP random copolymer increased.
BASF is the leading chemical company. It 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.
MRC