BASF moves polyacrylamide production to UK plant
1 Aug 2011
Ludwigshafen, Germany – BASF is to consolidate the production of polyacrylamide (PAM) beads into its Bradford, UK facility, where it operates a backward integrated production plant with worldwide supply capability.
Significant investment will be made to increase and upgrade the bead capacity at the UK site to ensure a consistent supply of PAM beads to customers globally, said a BASF statement.
PAM products are used in solid-liquid separation processes. They are available as powders and beads or in liquid form (inverse emulsions) and are extensively used in the global growth markets for water treatment, oilfield and mining as well as paper chemicals.
With the consolidation, BASF is to close its PAM bead production unit at its Suffolk, Virginia site, as of January 2012. The US production unit, it said, is too small to support the strong growth in demand for water treatment and oilfield and mining chemicals in North America.
From January 2012, North American customers will be supplied with PAM beads from the Bradford site, which already supplies the North American market with other PAM products.
The consolidation of PAM bead production complements other strategic measures and investments by BASF in these markets.
These measures include investing in world-scale backward integrated production plants for water treatment and paper chemicals in Nanjing, China, with capacities of 40ktpa of quaternized cationic monomers and 20ktpa of cationic PAMs.
BASF has also significantly expanded capacity for cationic monomers in West Memphis, Arkansas, and for inverse emulsions in Suffolk, Virginia.
