Chemical company BASF has announced that it will set up a Toluene Diisocyanate (TDI) single train production plant at Ludwigshafen which will have an annual capacity of 300,000 metric tons at a total investment of €1 billion.
For the precursors, the company will set up additional plants at its Ludwigshafen site. The additional plants include a recycling plant for hydrogen chloride and plants for chlorine, nitric acid and synthesis gas.
The company will also expand the aromatics complex which is located at the site to supply toluene. The construction process is expected to generate close to 200 jobs and production is likely to commence by 2014. Once the new plant becomes fully operational, BASF will close its existing TDI plant located in Schwarzheide, Germany which has an annual capacity of 80,000 metric tons.
At Schwarzheide, BASF will set up structures according to the future needs of its customers. With the new plant, the company will have a total of two sites for the production of polyurethane based basic products in Europe, the Antwerp site for the production of diphenylmethane diisocyanate and the Ludwigshafen site for TDI production.
TDI is a basic component of polyurethane and has major applications in the automotive and furniture industries in terms of interiors and cushioning of automotive interiors and foams and wood coating in the furniture industry.
BASF operates TDI plants in Louisiana, China and Korea apart from the plant in Germany.
Source: http://www.basf.com