BASF, a chemical company, announced that it has planned to construct a butadiene extraction plant in Antwerp, Belgium. The plant will located at the company’s Verbund site and will have a production capacity of 155,000 metric tons per year.
The extraction plant is expected to commence operation during 2014. One of the major consumers of butadiene, which is a raw material used to manufacture synthetic rubber, is the tire industry. Other applications of the material include plastics and paper chemicals production.
The company has made this plan in view of decreasing supply of butadiene on the worldwide markets. Recently, there has been a sharp decline in the availability of butadiene in the marketplace. Simultaneously, demand from the tire and other sectors has been increasing, which led to a significant price increase.
The butadiene will be sourced from C4 crude product that is produced from the steam cracker. The current investment at Verbund is important for the company’s growth, and the plant further strengthens the production capacity at the site, commented BASF Antwerpen’s CEO, Wouter de Geest. He added that by enhancing the combination of the C4 value chain, the company will be able to decrease the logistics requirement.
BASF already owns a butadiene extraction facility in Ludwigshafen, Germany with a production capacity of 105,000 metric tons per year.
Source: http://www.basf.com/
Disclaimer: The views expressed here are those of the author expressed in their private capacity and do not necessarily represent the views of AZoM.com Limited T/A AZoNetwork the owner and operator of this website. This disclaimer forms part of the Terms and conditions of use of this website.