BASF, Linde plan to jointly develop butadiene technology

LONDON (ICIS)–Engineering firm Linde and fellow Germany-based BASF will partner to develop and license processes for the production of linear butenes and butadiene (BD), the chemicals major said on Tuesday.

BASF said while currently the chemical industry relies on BD as a co-product from naphtha-cracking to ethylene, the new process will provide them with a “on-purpose route from butane to butadiene via butenes,” it said.

Linde will contribute to the partnership with its engineering expertise for integration, optimisation and commercialisation of the process, while BASF would be the provider of technology, catalysts and extraction technologies.

“The new BASF technology is currently being developed by mini plant and pilot plant operation in Ludwigshafen [the company’s main site, in Germany],” said Heinrich-Josef Blankertz, senior vice president global technology at BASF’s petrochemicals division.

We are optimistic that we can offer a new best-in-class technology for the manufacturing of on-purpose butadiene to help producers meet the increasing global demand,” he added.

BD is a monomer used for the production of polymers, paper coating and synthetic rubber for the tyre production.