BASF inaugurates new citral plant in Ludwigshafen
BASF has officially inaugurated a new production plant for the fine chemicals intermediate citral at its Ludwigshafen site. The world-scale plant, which has an annual capacity of 40,000 tonnes, replaces an existing plant with a capacity of 10,000 tonnes per year.
BASF has officially inaugurated a new production plant for the fine chemicals intermediate citral at its Ludwigshafen site. The world-scale plant, which has an annual capacity of 40,000 tonnes, replaces an existing plant with a capacity of 10,000 tonnes per year.
As a result, citral will become the key building block for BASF's fine chemicals, forming the starting point for the production of vitamins A and E, as well as carotenoids and an extended range of aroma chemicals.
BASF expects fine chemicals markets to grow by about 6% on average by 2010. With the startup of the plant, BASF has implemented a key project in its Euro 300m investment programme for fine chemicals at the Ludwigshafen site. At present, the global fine chemicals business is characterised by increasing pressure on margins due to new suppliers, in particular in Asia.
The new plant, which uses the first continuous process for citral, and the subsequent production stages are based on numerous innovative process steps and catalyst systems that have been developed by BASF's researchers in recent years. Overall, the new plant will significantly simplify production structures for fine chemicals, thus reducing production costs, the company says.