Renewable raw materials promise from BASF
Chemicals group BASF has announced that the cessation at its Ludwigshafen plant in Germany of production of adipic acid and cyclododecanone may be followed by “further asset adjustment measures”.
The group has made clear that it will continue to manufacture both products, which are building blocks for the production of synthetic fibres, at other sites. In a new strategy presentation on September 26, it said it was considering further measures to make its plant in Ludwigshafen “leaner but stronger”.
In the strategy presentation, BASF said it would keep in place most of the business structure it has at the moment, in which monomers and performance materials are part of its Materials segment.
It said, however, that its ambition is to be what chairman of the board, Dr Markus Kamieth, called “the preferred chemical company for enabling customers’ green transformation”.
With a view to fulfilling this ambition, it said at the September presentation that it wanted to secure increasing volumes of renewable feedstocks and would set up a new, dedicated unit for sourcing renewable raw materials.
