BASF inaugurates enzyme-based production plant for biocatalyzed acrylamide
BASF celebrated the opening of a new state-of-the-art production plant for biocatalyzed acrylamide at its site in Nanjing Chemical Industrial Park, Nanjing, China.
BASF inaugurates enzyme-based production plant for biocatalyzed acrylamide in Nanjing, China. From Left to right: Dr. Marco Altmayer, Vice President, BASF Regional Business Management Paper and Water Chemicals Asia Pacific & Local Business Management Performance Chemicals China (BASF); Mr. Tom Liao, Vice President, BD & Marketing Management, WorleyParsons China; Mr. Hermann Althoff, Senior Vice President, Performance Chemicals Asia Pacific (BASF); Mr. Xie Lizhou, Director of Jiangbei Office, Nanjing CIQ Bureau; Mr. Anup Kothari, President of Performance Chemicals Division (BASF); Mr. Li Baoping, Deputy Director, Nanjing Jiangbei New Area Administrative Committee; Mr. Andreas Türk Senior Vice President, Paper and Water Chemicals (BASF); Mr. Bian ZhongWu, Director, Nanjing Jiangbei New Area Administrative Office of Transformation and Development of Chemical Industry; Mr. Bradley Morrison, Senior Vice President, Operations & Site Management Greater China (BASF); Mr. Qin MingWei, General Manager, BASF Specialty Chemicals (Nanjing) Co., Ltd. (BASF)
BASF
With this investment in its wholly-owned BioACM plant in Nanjing, BASF is strengthening its production set-up for reliable and high-quality supply of polyacrylamide to customers in Asia Pacific, especially in China. The plant has a capacity of more than 50,000 tons of biocatalyzed acrylamide per year.
Acrylamide is used in the production of water-soluble flocculation aids that make wastewater treatment and papermaking, as well as mineral processing and enhanced oil recovery, more efficient and less resource-intensive. This new plant further strengthens BASF’s position in the region and will help expand cost-competitive supply to meet the growing demand of these water-intensive industries.
BASF has been producing biocatalyzed acrylamide in Suffolk, USA, since 2014 and started operations at its European BioACM plant in Bradford, England, in 2016. With this successful start-up in China, BASF now has three state-of-the-art production facilities located in key markets worldwide.
“The completion of the BioACM plant in Nanjing is an important milestone. The construction of a new polyacrylamide production line is currently underway and is expected to go on stream in 2018. With investments into upstream and downstream plants, we continue to strengthen our position as a leading partner for the paper and water treatment industries,” explained Andreas Tuerk, Senior Vice President Paper and Water Chemicals from BASF.
The enzyme-based biocatalytic production method results in less waste than conventional high-pressure, energy-intensive copper catalysis. The process takes place at room temperature and under normal atmospheric conditions, resulting in energy savings and greater environmental compatibility. It also generates fewer by-products.
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