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Materials

BASF, Chinese Partner Plan Butanediol Plant

by Jean-François Tremblay
March 11, 2013 | A version of this story appeared in Volume 91, Issue 10

BASF and the Chinese firm Xinjiang Markor Chemical have agreed to form joint ventures to produce butanediol and polytetrahydrofuran (polyTHF). Based in the thinly populated northwestern Xinjiang province, Markor is a furniture company that entered the chemical business. Using coal and natural gas as raw materials, Markor produces acetylene, methanol, formaldehyde, and butanediol. Markor and BASF are, respectively, China’s and the world’s largest producers of butanediol, which is used to produce spandex fibers and polyurethanes. The partners’ plans call for a 100,000-metric-ton-per-year butanediol plant and a 50,000-metric-ton polyTHF unit to open in 2015. BASF already produces the two chemicals in Shanghai. The Shanghai polyTHF plant opened in 2005 but was idled shortly thereafter when BASF found it suffered from design flaws. After repairs, BASF restarted the unit in 2007.

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