BASF, Huntsman eye more MDI

BASF, Huntsman, Shanghai Hua Yi, Sinopec Shanghai Gao Qiao Petrochemical, and Shanghai Chloro-Alkali Chemical are considering a new methylene diphenyl diisocyanate (MDI) facility with a capacity of 400,000 metric tons that would come on-line in 2010. The companies are already building a $1 billion complex at the Caojing Chemical Park in Shanghai that includes a 260,000-metric-ton MDI plant and a 160,000-metric-ton toluene diisocyanate facility that they expect will start production this summer. Talks on the new project are still at an early stage. The companies say they will consider various Chinese locations, even though Hua Yi, a municipally owned group, rarely ventures outside Shanghai. BASF says the ownership and cost of the proposed facility have yet to be determined.