FLORHAM PARK, NJ, May 4, 2012 - 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.
For more information about BASF’s formic acid, please visit
http://www.intermediates.basf.com/chemicals/formic-acid/index
About BASF
BASF Corporation, headquartered in Florham Park, New Jersey, is the North
American affiliate of BASF SE, Ludwigshafen, Germany. BASF has more than 16,000
employees in North America, and had sales of about $20 billion in 2011. For more
information about BASF’s North American operations, visit www.basf.us.
BASF is the world’s leading chemical company: The Chemical Company. Its portfolio
ranges from chemicals, plastics, performance products and crop protection products
to oil and gas. We combine economic success, social responsibility and environmental
protection. Through science and innovation we enable our customers in almost all
industries to meet the current and future needs of society. Our products and system
solutions contribute to conserving resources, ensuring healthy food and nutrition and
helping to improve the quality of life. We have summed up this contribution in our
corporate purpose: We create chemistry for a sustainable future. BASF posted sales
of about €73.5 billion in 2011 and had more than 111,000 employees as of the end of
the year. Further information on BASF is available on the Internet at www.basf.com