Basf Establishes New Production Facility For Chemical Intermediates

Basf has started up a new plant complex for the production of the chemical intermediates cyclopentanone (CPon) and cyclododecanone (CDon) at its Ludwigshafen Verbund site on November 30, 2009.

Reportedly, the company has invested more than E100m euros in the facility, which has a total production capacity of approximately 30,000 metric tons per year. The complex is expected to create 48 new jobs in Ludwigshafen.

CDon is the key raw material for producing laurolactam, an intermediate for the high-performance plastic polyamide 12, which in turn is used to make products such as dimensionally stable automotive and engineering components. CPon is a building block in the synthesis of crop protection products, active ingredients for pharmaceuticals and fragrances, and as a solvent in wafer production.

The company said that the new facility will be the first to use nitrous oxide for industrial-scale oxidation. This greenhouse gas, which is a by-product from another production process, serves as a starting material in the new process.

Additionally, the new technology was tailored to the needs of Basf’s Verbund system. Along with nitrous oxide, other raw materials from BASF are also used as ingredients. As a result the process is cost-efficient as well as sustainable and easy on the environment.

Beate Ehle, president of intermediates division at Basf, said: “The two new products, CDon and CPon, fit in perfectly in our intermediates portfolio. Not only does it supply the raw materials we need, it also provides a Know-how Verbund that integrates research, process technology, mechanical and plant engineering.”