MDI Project Eyed For China

A partnership between BASF, Huntsman Group, and three Chinese companies is evaluating several possible sites in China for construction of a plant to produce diphenylmethane diisocyanate (MDI), a key component of polyurethane resins.

The Chinese companies are Shanghai Hua Yi, Sinopec Shanghai Gao Qiao Petrochemical Corp., and Shanghai Chloro-Alkali Chemical Co. Start-up is planned for 2010 at the earliest, and the plant is expected to have a capacity of 400,000 metric tons per year of crude MDI.

The market for urethanes in China is expected to grow at a double-digit annual rate and will become the largest in the world within the next decade, says Jean-Pierre Dhanis, president of BASF's polyurethanes division. "We want to participate in this dynamic growth and better serve our customers through local production," he adds.

The same five companies are already involved in an integrated isocyanates complex currently under construction at the Shanghai Chemical Industry Park in Caojing. This project is progressing as scheduled and commercial production is expected to begin in the middle of this year, the companies say. It will have annual capacity for 240,000 metric tons of crude MDI and 160,000 metric tons of toluene diisocyanate. The total cost for the complex is about $1 billion.