BASF ups Ludwigshafen HAFB capacity, shelves new US plant

02 November 2000 17:02  [Source: ICIS news]

LONDON (CNI)--BASF is to increase capacity for hydroxylamine free base (HAFB) at its Ludwigshafen, Germany site but is shelving for the time being an alternative plan to build a new plant in the US, the German chemicals giant disclosed on Thursday.

It said capacity (calculated as a 50% solution) would be increased during the first quarter of 2001 by just over 42% from 4000 tonne/year to 5700 tonne/year.

The planned increase comes less than two months since BASF increased HAFB capacity by 1000 tonne/year through debottlenecking measures.

Hans Bartels, head of BASF's inorganics marketing unit, said that expansion at Ludwigshafen was the quickest way in which it could meet world demand for HAFB, which has been estimated to be growing at the rate of about 5% a year.

"The possibility of building a new plant in our main market USA is still open and will be investigated again if justified by the evolution of the market."

BASF had investigated the possibility of building a 4000-5000 tonne/year capacity plant in the US.

It is currently the world's only producer of HAFB following the explosion in May this year at Nisshin Chemical's Ojima plant in Japan.

HAFB is used especially for cleaning semiconductors, and as a building block in the synthesis of pharmaceuticals and in the treatment of metal surfaces.

By: Neil Sinclair
+44 20 8652 3214

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