BASF will double its manufacturing capacity for certain alkyl-etho­nalamines (AEOA) by mid-2009. This expansion is the company’s response to increases in its customers’ demand for these products. BASF manufactures its range of AEOA specialties at the integrated Verbund site in Ludwigshfen, Germany, by means of a flexible, fully backward-integrated multi-product facility.
AEOA, such as ethylethanolamines, propylethanolamines and butyl-ethanolamines, are used in a wide array of applications, such as in coatings and lubricants. AEOA belong to the alkylalkanolamine category that BASF now makes at its sites in Ludwigshafen, Germany, and Geismar, LA, U.S., with a total annual capacity of 70,000 metric tons.
“As one of the globally leading amine manufacturers, we are expanding our production capacity in response to our customers’ growing demand for specific AEOAs,” said Stefan Blank, head of the regional amines business unit within BASF’s intermediates division. “We are pleased to see that this increase in demand is driven mainly by innovations that we have developed in cooperation with our customers.”
Examples of this include the development of a new AEOA for high-grade emulsion paints and new options to use products from the existing AEOA portfolio in certain industrial applications.