BASF to optimize and consolidate its Polyacrylamide bead production

Consolidation of Polyacrylamide (PAM) bead production into Bradford facility, Great Britain

02-Aug-2011 - Germany

BASF will consolidate the production of PAM beads into its Bradford facility, Great Britain, where the company operates a backward integrated production plant with worldwide supply capability. Significant investment will be made to increase and upgrade the bead capacity at the Bradford site, and this will ensure a consistent supply of PAM beads to BASF’s customers globally.

PAM products are a state-of-the-art product range for use in solid-liquid separation processes. They are available as powders and beads or in liquid form (inverse emulsions) and are extensively used in the global growth markets for Water Treatment, Oilfield and Mining as well as Paper Chemicals.

As a result of the consolidation, BASF intends to close down its PAM bead production unit at its Suffolk site, Virginia, effective January 2012. Other production activities are not affected by the shift in production. The production unit was considered too small to support the strong growth path for BASF’s Water Treatment and Oilfield and Mining Chemicals businesses in North America. About 50 BASF employees will be affected. From January 2012, North American customers will be supplied with PAM beads from Bradford, Great Britain, which already supplies the North American market with other PAM products.

The consolidation of PAM bead production complements other strategic measures and investments geared towards profitable growth in BASF’s key markets Water Treatment, Oilfield, Mining as well as Paper Chemicals. These measures include investing in world-scale backward integrated production plants for Water Treatment and Paper Chemicals in Nanjing, China, with capacities of 40,000 tons of quaternized cationic monomers and 20,000 tons of cationic Polyacrylamides per year, as well as significant capacity expansions for cationic monomers in West Memphis, Arkansas, and for inverse emulsions in Suffolk, Virginia.

“BASF is well positioned to meet the growing customer demand in the water treatment industry due to our excellent position in the value chain”, explains Dr. Matthias Halusa, head of BASF’s Water Solutions business. “ The consolidation of PAM bead production is strengthening our business and, together with our focused investment at our West Memphis and Suffolk sites, it will also support BASF’s profitable growth strategy for North America. We will continue to serve our valued customers in this important region by supplying them with our high-quality and innovative PAM products and services. North America plays a central role in our global Water Solutions strategy.”

https://www.chemeurope.com/en/news/133776/basf-to-optimize-and-consolidate-its-polyacrylamide-bead-production.html