BASF and Sinopec will build a neopentylglycol plant at their joint venture petrochemicals complex in Nanjing, China. NPG is a polyalcohol used as a building block in the production of polyester resins for lubricants and other applications.
The partner companies did not disclose the cost of the new plant, part of a complex operating as BASF-YPC Co. They did say that its NPG capacity will be 40,000 metric tons per year. They expect it to go on stream at the end of 2015.
BASF claims to be the worlds leading supplier of NPG, used to make polyester resins that also go into coatings and plasticizers. It has three other NPG plants in Jilin, China, Germany and the United States.
With this new plant, we are responding to our customers growing demand for high quality neopentylglycol, especially in the Asia Pacific region, and at the same time strengthening our position as the global leading supplier of NPG, said Sanjeev Gandhi, president of BASFs Intermediates division.