BASF plans new hydroxylamine plant in the US

28 June 2000 15:17  [Source: ICIS news]

LONDON (CNI)--BASF is planning to build a new hydroxylamine free base (HAFB) plant and will make an investment decision on the project in the next few weeks, the German chemicals giant disclosed on Wednesday.

The proposed 4000-5000 tonne/year capacity (calculated as 50% solution) plant, which is likely to be sited in the US, is needed to meet strong growth in worldwide demand for HAFB, BASF told CNI. BASF is looking in particular at sites in the US as it wishes to locate the new plant in an area of major production of semi-conductors. HAFB is used in particular for cleaning semi-conductors, and is also used as a building block in the synthesis of pharmaceuticals and in the treatment of metal surfaces.

BASF would not disclose the estimated cost of a new plant or the likely timescale. Both will depend to some degree on the location, said BASF, which is currently the world's only producer of HAFB following the explosion last month at Nisshin Chemical's Ojima plant. It is not yet known when, or if, Nisshin will resume production of hydroxylamines at Ojima.

The German group, which is currently expanding by one-third to 4000 tonne/year the capacity of its HAFB plant at Ludwigshafen, has estimated world hydroxylamine demand to be growing at the rate of about 5% a year.

"We are doing everything to meet the world demand for HAFB as soon as possible," said Hans Bartels, head of BASF's inorganics marketing unit. He was quoted in a statement by BASF announcing that the Ludwigshafen expansion is due to be completed by the end of Q3 this year. Bartels said that in the short term certain allocations would be unavoidable. "Our customers have been informed, and we are working out supply programmes with them," he added.

BASF also said it is working on process improvements which will lead to a further, smaller but unquantified capacity increase at Ludwigshafen.

By: Neil Sinclair
+44 20 8652 3214

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