MARKET PROSPECTS

November 2007 Pump Industry Analyst3

CHEMICALS

BASF builds production capability

BASF has inaugurated two new manufacturing plants at its site

in Freeport, Texas – a production line for polyamide 6 and a plant for superabsorbent polymers (SAP).

The polyamide production line replaces a facility in Enka, North Carolina. The new line has an annual capacity of 120 000 met-ric tons per year. The new SAP plant has a capacity of 180 000 metric tons per year and replaces existing facilities in Aberdeen, Mississippi and Portsmouth, Virginia.

BASF will expand its plant for low molec-ular weight, highly reactive polyisobutene, which is marketed under the Glissopal trademark, at its site in Antwerp, Belgium. BASF will increase its capacity for Glissopal in Antwerp by 25 000 tonnes to 100 000 tonnes per year. The start up of the expanded capacity is planned for March 2008.

BASF Coatings is expanding its produc-tion and laboratory capacities for the manu-facture of eco-efficient waterborne coatings at its Würzburg site. This is in response to growing demand in the European and Asian markets, especially from the automo-tive industry. In Münster-Hiltrup, BASF Coatings is also investing in the construction of a new polyurethane reactor to produce res-ins for the manufacture of waterborne coat-ings. The combined �29 million investment is one of the largest in the company’s history.

The mothballed BASF plant for the manufacture of tetrahydrofuran (THF) at the Caojing site near Shanghai, China, is ready to go back on stream. The plant is now equipped with a new production unit enabling the alter-native use of butane diol as a raw material for THF production in addition to butane.

Bayer to build world-scale polymer polyols plant

Bayer MaterialScience is planning to build a world-scale plant for

the manufacture of polymer-filled polyether polyols (PMPO) at its Antwerp site in Belgium.

The �40 million plant will have an annual capacity of 60 000 tons and is scheduled

for commissioning in late 2008. Bayer MaterialScience already manufactures poly-ether polyols, one of the starting materials for polymer polyols, at the Antwerp site.

Solvay reinforces its presence in China

Solvay Solexis, a 100% subsidiary of the Solvay Group, has con-

firmed that its new polytetrafluor-oethylene (PTFE) micronized powder plant currently under construction in Changshu, China, will be operational in the first quarter of 2008.

Solvay Solexis has also confirmed its inten-tion to further develop its activities on the site, where it is considering producing other high value added fluorinated polymers.

The new PTFE plant is located in the Jiangsu High-Tech Fluorochemical Industrial Park in Changshu, 100 kms west of Shanghai. Among the subsequent devel-opment projects considered in Changshu, Solvay Solexis is planning to build an inte-grated production plant for the manufactur-ing of polyvinylidene fluoride (PVDF) for coating applications and related monomers.

Evonik to increase alkoxide capacity

Evonik Industries AG will build an alkoxide production facility at its

Mobile, Alabama, site in the USA.The plant, designed for a capacity of

60 000 metric tons, is expected to come on stream in early 2009 and will supply custom-ers throughout the NAFTA region. A second facility in Brazil is scheduled to start opera-tion in 2010 and will supply the entire South American continent.

Dow reorganises polyisocyanurate production

Dow Building Solutions will reconfigure its polyisocyanurate

(polyiso) assets in North America. The reconfiguration positions two sites

(Charleston, Illinois and Pennsauken, New Jersey) for growth and technology upgrades;

and results in the closure of two sites (Texarkana, Arkansas and Tracy, California). Both facilities produce rigid polyiso foam insulation for general insulation applications, such as walls and roofing.

DSM invests in capacity increases

Royal DSM NV has decided to invest in capacity expansion and

modernization of the caprolactam plant at the Chemelot Industrial Park in Geleen, the Netherlands. This �25 million investment will allow DSM to gradually expand the capacity of the plant according to market demands.

Caprolactam is the key raw material for Nylon-6, a highly versatile material that is used to make not only textile, carpet and technical fibres, but also engineering plastics and packaging films. Nylon-6 is found in numerous applications ranging from con-veyor belts, parachutes and lingerie to auto-motive air-inlets and packaging for fresh food products.

DSM will also invest to expand Dyneema UD (UniDirectional bullet resistant sheet) production by 25% in its Greenville, North Carolina, USA manufacturing facility.

The investment is driven by the increasing demand for Dyneema UD in the US market for personal and especially vehicle security and protection against terrorism. Production in Greenville has a strong focus on supplying the US army and law enforcement agencies. The new line is expected to come on stream in mid 2008.

Expansion for aromatics plant

ExxonMobil Chemical is expand-ing its Rotterdam Aromatics

Plant, making this world-scale plant ExxonMobil’s largest paraxylene production facility, increasing its paraxylene production capacity by 25% and benzene production capac-ity by 20%.

The new unit will employ ExxonMobil’s proprietary PxMax technology to produce paraxylene and benzene. The PxMax process improves selectivity, generates less waste and reduces energy requirements versus existing technologies.

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