BASF Opens New Dispersion Plant in Finland

14 October 2002 00:00  [Source: ICB Americas]

With the opening of a 140,000 metric ton-per-year facility at Hamina, Finland, BASF AG has met its objective of having a network of dispersion plants to serve Europe's paper industry.

The plant, BASF's first production site in the Nordic region, will provide polymer dispersions for the Scandina-vian and Russian markets. An existing unit at Ludwigshafen, Germany, supplies central Europe, while the Iberian peninsula is served by a facility at Tarragona, Spain.

The new plant, which generates no waste water, is able to produce both styrene-acrylate and styrene-butadiene dispersion for use as coating binders. The unit also makes the company's new Basonal coating binder-a customized product which takes into account binding power, blister resistance, printing properties and other technical requirements.

"The inauguration of this plant is a cornerstone in our strategy of strengthening our position as a global leader in chemicals for the paper industry," says Stefan Marcinowski, a BASF exe-cutive director.

Although the unit will initially make dispersions for the paper industry, BASF is considering using it for other dispersion applications, such as decorative paints.

The opening of the Hamina, Finland, plant is in line with BASF's aims of becoming a systems partner for state-of-the-art paper machine operators through-out the world. The company has reached a deal with SCA Group of Sweden and Voith, the paper machine manufacturer, by which it is providing a customized package of chemicals for SCA's new 240,000 ton-per-year super-calendered paper plant at Laarkirchen, Austria.

The products in the package comprise agents for fixing and retention, dyeing, stock de-aeration and sizing.

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