BASF Plans for Major Super Absorbent Polymers Expansion in the South

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Researched by Industrialinfo.com (Industrial Information Resources, Incorporated; Houston, Texas). BASF Corporation (Florham Park, New Jersey), a subsidiary of BASF AG (NYSE:BF) (Ludwigshafen, Germany) is planning to construct a new state-of-the-art super absorbent polymers (SAP) unit in Freeport, Texas. The new unit will be located at its existing Freeport, Texas, petrochemical complex and will produce approximately 160,000 metric tons per year of SAP, with feedstock coming from the company's 500,000 metric ton per year acrylic acid unit located onsite. BASF will spend over $100 million to construct this new unit and anticipates a mid to late 2005 construction start. The company expects to have the new unit online by mid-2007.

This new SAP unit is expected to be more cost effective to operate than BASF's two other existing North American production plants. In 2007, when the new unit comes online, BASF plans to close and decommission its 85,000 ton per year Aberdeen, Mississippi, plant and the 75,000 metric ton per year Portsmouth, Virginia, plant.

Super absorbent polymers are more absorbent than polymers without the super absorbent quality and are widely used in disposable diapers, packaging materials, cable wrappings, cosmetics, environmental containment, and fire fighting gear. BASF is a multifaceted production company and is not only a leader in the chemical sector, but is also a producer of products ranging from plastics, performance products, agricultural products, to crude oil and natural gas.

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