BASF Resurrects China Polyurethane Project

Having put a project to build a methylene diphenyl diisocyanate plant on hold earlier this year (C&EN, May 11, page 17), BASF has a new timetable for it. Martin Brudermüller, a Hong Kong-based member of the BASF board of executive directors, told reporters at a briefing in Hong Kong that the 400,000-metric-ton-per-year plant for the polyurethane intermediate in Chong­qing, China, will likely start up in 2014 as long as BASF’s board approves it early next year. In 2007, when it first announced the project, BASF expected to fire up the plant as early as 2010. To support the company’s expansion in Asia, Brudermüller said that BASF plans to boost its regional headcount by 5,000 to nearly 8,000 by 2020. R&D staff will more than double to 650.