BASF and Sinopec plan to double capacity of neopentyl glycol, a component of polyester resins for synthetic lubricants, at their joint venture facility in Nanjing, China.
BASF-YPC Co. announced last week that it will hike NPC capacity to 80,000 metric tons per year by the end of 2020 at its petrochemical complex in the Nanjing Chemical Industry Park, under undisclosed financial terms.
The 50-50 JV launched the 40,000 t/y NPG unit in 2015 to target growing demand for high-quality NPG, a unique polyalcohol that can be used as a building block in applications such as lubricants and coatings. BASF has NPG facilities in Germany, the United States and Jilin, China, and claims to supply more NPG than any other source worldwide.
In its second quarter, BASFs sales of intermediates to third parties climbed 11 percent from the year before to 757 million (approximately U.S. $900 million). The Ludwigshafen, Germany-based chemicals giant noted in its earnings statement that polyalcohol sales, in particular, had increased year over year.
Sinopec, or China Petroleum & Chemical Corp., is a state-owned oil and gas company based in Beijing.
Photo courtesy of BASF-YPC Co.