Geismar, Louisiana – Construction has begun on the third and final phase of BASF’s MDI expansion in Geismar. The 600kT/year capacity increase at the Verbund site was announced in July 2022.
The new capacity is expected to be fully up and running by the middle of the decade. The $780m investment in this phase brings the total spend on the expansion to about $1bn.
The expansion project began in 2018 with the installation of a new MDI synthesis unit, which started operations in October 2020. Phase two opened a year later, and expanded a number of existing upstream units. The third phase will add new upstream units, and also a splitter. It will include advanced digitalisation.
“BASF is investing to support our customers in various industries with significant growth potential in MDI applications, including transportation, automotive, footwear and furniture,” said Stefan Doerr, BASF’s SVP for monomers in North America.
