Company News
July 11, 2022
BASF to Expand Specialty Amines
BASF expands capacity for key specialty amines in North America
- Focus on polyetheramines and tertiary amines
- Increase of production capacities at Geismar site on-stream in mid-2023
- BASF aims to reliably support customers in North America
FLORHAM PARK, NJ, June 28, 2022 – BASF will increase the production capacity for key specialty amines manufactured at its Geismar, Louisiana site. After the completed production capacity expansion of a flexible world-scale production asset by mid-2023, BASF will be able to produce more of its key polyetheramines and tertiary amines marketed under the Baxxodur® and LupragenTM brands. These assets in North America will complement a global network of specialty amines production plants including those at Verbund sites in Ludwigshafen, Germany, and in Nanjing, China.
“This investment underlines our commitment to continuously support the growth of our customers with high-quality specialty amines,” said Kevin Anderson, Vice President, Business Management Amines, Acetylenics and Carbonyl Derivatives, Chemical Intermediates, North America for BASF. “The additional capacity in Geismar will allow us to respond quickly and reliably to increasing market demand.”
BASF’s Baxxodur portfolio is utilized by customers as highly efficient curing agents and chain extenders in epoxy and polyurea applications for the wind, electrical, composites, adhesives and flooring industries. The usage of Baxxodur products allows customers to achieve a wide range of benefits in their formulation, including curing time, hardness, flexibility, peel strength, chemical and temperature resistance.
BASF’s Lupragen products are highly efficient amine catalysts for Polyurethanes (PU). Those catalysts are typically tertiary amines, which are required to facilitate the reaction of the main components – isocyanate and polyol. Depending on the choice of catalyst, the polyurethane forming process can be controlled to enhance the gelling or blowing reaction. BASF’s Lupragen portfolio includes several low-VOC catalysts which offer support to address the increasing target of sustainable emission reductions.
With about 300 different amines, BASF has one of the world’s most diverse portfolio of chemical intermediates. Along with alkyl-, alkanol- and alkoxyalkylamines, BASF offers heterocyclic and aromatic as well as specialty amines. The range is completed by an expanding portfolio of chiral amines of high optical and chemical purity. The versatile products prove themselves mainly to manufacture process chemicals, pharmaceuticals and crop protection products, as well as cosmetic products and detergents. They also serve to produce coatings, special plastics, composites and special fibers.
Baxxodur® andLupragenTM are trademarks of BASF SE.
July 5, 2022
Carpenter/Recticel Update
CMA issues its Phase I decision with respect to the divestment by Recticel of its Engineered Foams business line to Carpenter
Regulated information, Brussels, 05/07/2022 — 08:30 CET, 05.07.2022
Recticel announces that on 4 July 2022 the UK Competition and Markets Authority (the “CMA”) has issued its Phase I decision with respect to the divestment by Recticel of its Engineered Foams business line to Carpenter (the “Transaction”) and has found that the Transaction would raise competition concerns in the UK market.
The CMA indicated that the Transaction would remove a close competitor of Carpenter’s, with Recticel and Carpenter representing 2 of just 3 foam producers with plants in the UK. The affected UK Recticel Engineered Foams businesses represent 8.7% of the 2021 turnover of the Recticel Engineered Foams business.
Carpenter now has until 11 July 2022 to submit remedy proposals to address the CMA’s competition concerns. The CMA then has a further 5 working days to consider whether to accept any remedy offer made by Carpenter instead of referring the case for an in-depth Phase 2 investigation.
Recticel will make further announcements in this respect in due course.
July 5, 2022
Carpenter/Recticel Update
CMA issues its Phase I decision with respect to the divestment by Recticel of its Engineered Foams business line to Carpenter
Regulated information, Brussels, 05/07/2022 — 08:30 CET, 05.07.2022
Recticel announces that on 4 July 2022 the UK Competition and Markets Authority (the “CMA”) has issued its Phase I decision with respect to the divestment by Recticel of its Engineered Foams business line to Carpenter (the “Transaction”) and has found that the Transaction would raise competition concerns in the UK market.
The CMA indicated that the Transaction would remove a close competitor of Carpenter’s, with Recticel and Carpenter representing 2 of just 3 foam producers with plants in the UK. The affected UK Recticel Engineered Foams businesses represent 8.7% of the 2021 turnover of the Recticel Engineered Foams business.
Carpenter now has until 11 July 2022 to submit remedy proposals to address the CMA’s competition concerns. The CMA then has a further 5 working days to consider whether to accept any remedy offer made by Carpenter instead of referring the case for an in-depth Phase 2 investigation.
Recticel will make further announcements in this respect in due course.
June 23, 2022
Black Mass Recycling Technology
BASF to build battery recycling facility in Brandenburg
BASFBatteriesbattery cellsBrandenburgGermanyRecyclingResourcesSchwarzheidesuppliers
BASF will build a plant for recycling black mass from batteries on an industrial scale in Schwarzheide, Brandenburg – where BASF’s pilot recycling plant is also located. Commissioning of the large plant is planned for early 2024.
The annual processing capacity is to be 15,000 tonnes – old electric car batteries and material that does not meet production specifications will be recycled. The latter can come from the immediate vicinity: As is well known, BASF is also building its German factory for cathode materials in Schwarzheide. Scrap and offcuts can therefore be reprocessed directly on site.
In the press release, the company describes the site as “ideal for the development of battery recycling activities”. Not only because of its own production on site, but “because there are many manufacturers of electric cars and cell producers in Central Europe”. The plant is expected to create about 30 jobs. The company does not specify the amount of the investment.
The so-called ‘black mass’ is produced in the first phase of battery recycling. After the mechanical treatment of the battery (i.e. dismantling and crushing), components such as plastics and aluminium can already be filtered out. What remains is the black mass, which contains large quantities of the battery’s active materials – such as lithium, nickel, cobalt and manganese. To separate this mass back into the individual materials (which are then used to produce new cathodes), water and chemicals are used in the hydrometallurgical process.
“With this investment in a commercial scale battery recycling black mass plant, we take the next step to establish the full battery recycling value chain at BASF. This allows us to optimize the end-to-end recycling process and reduce the CO2 footprint,” says Peter Schuhmacher, head of BASF’s Catalysts division. “The closed loop from end-of-life batteries to CAM for new batteries, supports our customers along the entire battery value chain, reduces the dependency from mined raw materials and enables a circular economy.”
The groundbreaking for cathode material production in Schwarzheide took place in November 2020. About a month later, the group confirmed it would also build the recycling pilot plant on site. At the pilot plant, which is scheduled to come on stream this year, BASF aims to optimise operating procedures to achieve higher recovery of lithium, nickel, cobalt and manganese from spent lithium-ion batteries.
https://www.electrive.com/2022/06/21/basf-to-build-battery-recycling-facility-in-brandenburg/
June 23, 2022
Black Mass Recycling Technology
BASF to build battery recycling facility in Brandenburg
BASFBatteriesbattery cellsBrandenburgGermanyRecyclingResourcesSchwarzheidesuppliers
BASF will build a plant for recycling black mass from batteries on an industrial scale in Schwarzheide, Brandenburg – where BASF’s pilot recycling plant is also located. Commissioning of the large plant is planned for early 2024.
The annual processing capacity is to be 15,000 tonnes – old electric car batteries and material that does not meet production specifications will be recycled. The latter can come from the immediate vicinity: As is well known, BASF is also building its German factory for cathode materials in Schwarzheide. Scrap and offcuts can therefore be reprocessed directly on site.
In the press release, the company describes the site as “ideal for the development of battery recycling activities”. Not only because of its own production on site, but “because there are many manufacturers of electric cars and cell producers in Central Europe”. The plant is expected to create about 30 jobs. The company does not specify the amount of the investment.
The so-called ‘black mass’ is produced in the first phase of battery recycling. After the mechanical treatment of the battery (i.e. dismantling and crushing), components such as plastics and aluminium can already be filtered out. What remains is the black mass, which contains large quantities of the battery’s active materials – such as lithium, nickel, cobalt and manganese. To separate this mass back into the individual materials (which are then used to produce new cathodes), water and chemicals are used in the hydrometallurgical process.
“With this investment in a commercial scale battery recycling black mass plant, we take the next step to establish the full battery recycling value chain at BASF. This allows us to optimize the end-to-end recycling process and reduce the CO2 footprint,” says Peter Schuhmacher, head of BASF’s Catalysts division. “The closed loop from end-of-life batteries to CAM for new batteries, supports our customers along the entire battery value chain, reduces the dependency from mined raw materials and enables a circular economy.”
The groundbreaking for cathode material production in Schwarzheide took place in November 2020. About a month later, the group confirmed it would also build the recycling pilot plant on site. At the pilot plant, which is scheduled to come on stream this year, BASF aims to optimise operating procedures to achieve higher recovery of lithium, nickel, cobalt and manganese from spent lithium-ion batteries.
https://www.electrive.com/2022/06/21/basf-to-build-battery-recycling-facility-in-brandenburg/
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