German chemical manufacturer BASF announced on Thursday the opening of a thermoplastic polyurethane (TPU) plant, the second to come online at the 10 billion euro ($10. 9 billion) Verbund under construction in Zhanjiang, Guangdong province.
The new plant will enable BASF to better meet developing demands in the Asia-Pacific region, especially in the industrial, e-mobility and new energy sectors, Martin Jung, BASF’s president of functional materials, said at an event in Zhanjiang on Thursday.
The TPU market in the Asia-Pacific is expected to grow by an average 7.4 percent annually by 2030, he said, citing a sectoral research report.
The new factory has BASF’s TPU production line in the world.
TPU products can be extruded into pipes, cable jackets, conveyor belts, films, and profiles, and can also be processed using calendering, blow molding, and injection molding technologies.
It is widely used in industries such as automotive, footwear, agriculture, sports and leisure, healthcare, and commercial manufacturing.
The Zhanjiang site, involving BASF’s largest investment and wholly owned by the group, will ultimately become the group’s third-largest site worldwide, following Ludwigshafen, Germany, and Antwerp, Belgium.
BASF opened the first factory at the Zhanjiang site in 2022, which has the capacity to produce 60,000 tons of engineering plastic composites per year to primarily serve the automotive industry.
The Zhanjiang will come with a steam cracker with an annual capacity of 1 million tonnes of ethylene, which is scheduled to be commissioned by the end of next year, said Haryono Lim, president of megaprojects for Asia at BASF.
An expansion to include other downstream plants is expected to be operational until 2028.
Construction at the site has been on track, time and cost-wise, despite the effect of the COVID-19 pandemic, Lim said, adding the products there will primarily serve the Chinese market.
The two plants already launched at the site are powered by renewable energy, and so will the steam cracker, with new technologies. The Zhanjiang site will be built into a role model for smart manufacturing and sustainable production, Lim said.
BASF formed last year a joint venture with Chinese wind turbine manufacturer Mingyang Smart Energy Group, which is based in Zhongshan, Guangdong, to jointly construct and operate an offshore wind farm in Zhanjiang.
BASF was the second-largest renewable power buyer in China in 2022, said Jeffrey Lou, president and chairman of BASF Greater China.
As the world’s largest chemical market, China plays an important and strategic role for BASF.
The organization is positive about the Chinese market in the long run, as the country strives for development, and its sustainability project will create immense opportunities, Lou said.
According to BASF, the company currently operates six Verbund sites around the world, adding one in Nanjing, Jiangsu province. The Chinese market is now BASF’s second-largest market after the United States.
liwenfang@chinadaily. com. cn