BASF to Boost 2-Mercaptoethanol Production by More Than 40% before The End of August at German Plant

BASF is to increase production capacity for 2-Mercaptoethanol (2-ME) at its Verbund site in Ludwigshafen/Germany by more than 40 percent before the end of August 2006, raising the company's annual capacity to more than 10,000 metric tons.

The capacity expansion comes in response to steadily increasing global demand, and significant merchant market shortages in the recent past. "With this expansion, we continue to strive to make our customers more successful, and support them in future application development” says Mark Volmer, head of the Business Unit Acids and Specialties. 2-ME has applications within PVC, Agro Chemicals, Oil Field Chemicals, Paper Coatings, and Fibres.