BASF and SINOPEC will build a new world-scale production plant for Neopentylglycol (NPG) at their state-of-the-art Verbund site, BASF-YPC Co., Ltd., a 50-50 joint venture in Nanjing, China.
The plant, with a total annual capacity of about 40,000 metric tons is planned to go on stream at the end of 2015. The new NPG plant will benefit from backward integration into the Nanjing Verbund site, allowing high delivery reliability and maximizing efficient use of energy and resources.
NPG is a unique polyalcohol offering superior performance in many end-use applications such as coatings, textiles and construction due to its high chemical and thermal stability. It is mainly used as a building block in polyester resins for coatings, unsaturated polyester and alkyd resins, lubricants and plasticizers. As the global market leader, BASF has NPG production facilities in Ludwigshafen, Germany; Freeport, USA and Jilin, China.
“With this new plant, we are responding to our customers’ growing demand for high-quality neopentylglycol, especially in the Asia Pacific region, and at the same time strengthening our position as the global leading supplier of NPG,” said Sanjeev Gandhi, President, BASF Intermediates division. “We have 55 years of experience in manufacturing and supplying neopentylglycol to our customers across a broad range of industries.”
“With this project, SINOPEC and BASF are fully utilizing their strengths regarding resources, technology, talent and management. Furthermore with this investment we are building on the core competitiveness of both partners,” said Mr. Wang Jingyi, Chairman and General Manager of Sinopec YPC and Chairman of BASF-YPC.
About BASF-YPC
BASF-YPC Co., Ltd. is a 50-50 joint venture between BASF and Sinopec, founded in 2000, with a total investment of $4.5 billion. The integrated petrochemical site produces 3 million tons of high-quality chemicals and polymers for the Chinese market annually. The products serve the rapid-growing demand in multiple industries including agriculture, construction, electronics, pharmaceutical, automotive and chemical manufacturing.
BASF-YPC Co., Ltd. successfully started commercial production at the first phase of the integrated petrochemical site in 2005 and inaugurated the second phase creating an extended value chain and increasing the production of fine chemicals in January 2012. BASF-YPC will further expand its acrylic acid value chain with additional acrylic acid and butyl acrylate plants. Production is expected to commence in 2014. Together with the superabsorbent polymer plant, which was put on stream in December 2013, BASF-YPC will enhance its support to home care and hygiene industries as well as coatings, textiles, and construction industries. These plants are interconnected in order to use products, by-products and energy in the most efficient way, to save cost and minimize environmental impact. The site also has a gas-fired power plant and an international port on a tributary of the Yangtze River to ensure optimum energy supply and logistics. BASF-YPC Co., Ltd. posted sales of €2.84 billion in 2013 employed 1,993 people as of the end of that year.
About SINOPEC
Sinopec is one of the largest integrated energy and chemical companies with upstream, midstream and downstream operations in China. Its principal operations include: the exploration and production, pipeline transportation and sales of petroleum and natural gas; the sales, storage and transportation of petroleum products, petrochemical products, synthetic fiber, fertilizer and other chemical products; import and export, as well as import and export agency business of oil, natural gas, petroleum products, petrochemical and chemical products, and other commodities and technologies; and research, development and application of technologies and information.
Adhering to its corporate mission of enterprise development, contribution to the country, shareholder value creation, social responsibility and employee wellbeing, Sinopec implements strategies of resources, markets, integration, internationalisation, differentiation and green low-carbon development with a view to realize its vision of building a world first class energy and chemical company. More information on Sinopec is available on the Internet at http://www.sinopec.com/.