04-05-2012

BASF to build new formic acid plant in the USA

BASF announced today its plans to build a world scale production plant for formic acid at its integrated “Verbund” site in Geismar, Louisiana. The new plant will create 20 new jobs and have an annual capacity of more than 50,000 tons. It will be the only formic acid production plant in North America and will allow BASF to better serve strategic markets in North and South America including applications for pharmaceuticals, energy, animal nutrition, leather and cleaning products. Start-up of the new plant is expected in the 2nd quarter 2014. BASF currently operates two formic acid production plants located at the company’s integrated Verbund sites in Ludwigshafen, Germany, and Nanjing, China, with a total annual capacity of more than 255,000 tons.

BASF’s customers use formic acid as an eco-friendly solution in a wide range of applications such as in animal feed where it provides protection of the feed and supports the health of the animal itself. Potassium formate, a salt of formic acid, is an environmentally friendly and highly efficient de-icing agent used on roads and airport runways. It is easily biodegradable thereby protecting aquatic wildlife in nearby rivers and watersheds. Both formic acid and potassium formate are used in the oil field industry as part of the drilling and completion process, as well as in shale gas exploration to promote extraction. Formic acid is an excellent de-scaling agent as well, and is used in industrial cleaning to remove mineral deposits from desalination plants, refineries and other processing industries.

“The new plant further strengthens our position as a leading supplier of chemistry for sustainable solutions”, said Dr. Hans Engel, Member of the Board of Executive Directors of BASF SE, Chief Financial Officer, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of BASF Corporation, made the announcement during a press conference at BASF’s new regional headquarters building in Florham Park, N.J.

“This investment demonstrates our commitment to the increasing market demand in North and South America driven by current and new applications of the versatile formic acid. We will be able to serve our customers better with shorter lead times and greater supply reliability. It also reinforces BASF’s global leading position in formic acid with production in Europe, North America and Asia”, said Soeren Hildebrandt, Senior Vice President of BASF’s Intermediates division.

In line with the company’s “We create chemistry” strategy, BASF focuses on sustainable products such as formic acid, which not only has an excellent eco-profile in its applications, but also in its production as part of the company’s Verbund concept. This concept is one of BASF’s greatest strengths, linking production and energy requirements in an efficient manner. BASF’s Geismar production site incorporates the Verbund concept and allows BASF to maximize production efficiencies of formic acid while helping to protect the environment by reducing waste and cutting emissions, and keeping resource consumption and transportation to a minimum.