Geismar, Louisiana — BASF has announced plans to increase capacity for MDI at its plant here from 300 kT/year to 600 kT/year in steps from the middle of 2020 to the middle of that decade.
"Engineering for the capacity increase has already started," said Stefano Pigozzi, president of BASF's monomers division. "Subsequent steps will be implemented aligned with business development. MDI precursor units in Geismar will be expanded accordingly."
Construction is scheduled to start in mid-2018, the company said, and the plan is for a gradual, step-wise increase until capacity is eventually reached.
Stefan Doerr, head of the monomers business unit in North America said: "Our infrastructure at Geismar, combined with competitive raw materials based on shale gas make Geismar ideally suited for the investment." BASF said that these could be sourced internally, or "the market could supply all relevant materials locally based on competitive shale gas feeds or globally."
Pigozzi added that his firm will use "the latest proprietary technologies will ensure best-in-class productivity and energy efficiency."
