BASF and SINOPEC break ground for the expansion of the joint Verbund site in Nanjing, China

BASF and SINOPEC today broke ground for the expansion of their Verbund site operated by BASF-YPC Co., Ltd. (BASF-YPC), a 50-50 joint venture of both companies in Nanjing. The expansion includes new capacities of several downstream chemical plants and a new tert-butyl acrylate plant, to serve the growing demand from various industries in the Chinese market.

BASF and SINOPEC break ground for the expansion of the joint Verbund site in Nanjing

“BASF-YPC is one of the most successful joint ventures for BASF globally with outstanding safety and business performances,” said Dr. Markus Kamieth, Member of the Board of Executive Directors, BASF SE. “It owes to the trusted partnership between BASF and SINOPEC for more than two decades, which is being further strengthened by this expansion.”

“The success of BASF-YPC in the past years well reflected the good cooperation of SINOPEC and BASF,”said Baocai Yu, President of SINOPEC Corp. “The expansion will enable the company to increase the capacity and portfolio of high-end chemicals, further enhancing competitiveness of the joint venture.”

The partners will expand the production capacities of propionic acid, propionic aldehyde, ethyleneamines, ethanolamines and purified ethylene oxide, and build a new tert-butyl acrylate plant. The tert-butyl acrylate plant will be an extension to the downstream using acrylic acid and isobutene of the existing Verbund as feedstock, which marks the first time this advanced production technology is applied outside of Germany. The expanded and new plants are planned to come on stream by the end of 2023.

“We will deploy the state-of-the-art technologies to build the new facilities at the BASF-YPC, which allows us to gain competitive edge in the dynamic Chinese market,” said Dr. Jeffrey Lou, President and Chairman Greater China, BASF. “More importantly, it strongly demonstrates the joint commitments by BASF and SINOPEC to promote sustainable development in China’s chemical industry.”

“The domestic petrochemical industry is in high-quality development. With the support of all involved parties, we will implement the expansion project on the first-class standards,” said Yuefeng Gu, Chairman of Sinopec Yangzi Petrochemical Company Limited and BASF-YPC Company Limited. “The advanced modern petrochemical site will promote the transformation and upgrading of the petrochemical industry and make greater contributions to local economic and sustainable development.”

Propionic acid (PA) is used as a mold inhibitor for the preservation of food and feed grains. It offers strong economic and ecological benefits over preservation through drying or storage in air-tight silos. It is also used in the production of pharmaceuticals, crop protection agents and solvents.

Ethyleneamines (EEA) and Ethanolamines (EOA) are intermediates used in the manufacture of crop protection agents, surfactants for personal and home care products, process chemicals for gas treatment, lubricants and cement additives, paper chemicals, and active pharmaceutical ingredients.

Propionic aldehyde (PALD) is an intermediate used as key raw material for propionic acid and n-propanol production. It is mainly used in the manufacture of pharmaceuticals, insecticides, fragrances and plastics.

Purified ethylene oxide (PEO) is a raw material for industrial applications and is often used in synthesis processes of chemical industry. It is used in the manufacturing of ethanolamines, glycol ethers and surfactants for washing and cleaning agents.

Tert-butyl acrylate (TBA) is an acrylic acid ester for manufacturing polymers and is used as a feedstock for syntheses. As a specialty chemical it is used in paper sizing and emulsion applications.