German chemicals giant BASF is building a 12,000-tonne/year world-scale plant for the production of speciality amines in Ludwigshafen, scheduled for 2015. Last month it also announced an amines plant in China.

The product range of its German multi-product plant comprises 15 amines for different applications. The major applications are in the construction, automotive, crop protection and pharmaceutical industries. With this new facility, BASF is expanding its global production network of amines with plants in Ludwigshafen and Schwarzheide in Germany; Antwerp, Belgium; Geismar, Louisiana; and Nanjing, China.

The main products of the Chinese plant, which is due to start-up operations in 2015, will be dimethylaminopropylamine (DMAPA) and polyetheramine (PEA).

With about 200 different amines, BASF has the world’s most diverse portfolio of this type of chemical intermediates. Along with alkyl, alkanol, alkoxyalkylamines, the company offers heterocyclic and aromatic as well as specialty amines. The range is completed by an expanding portfolio of chiral amines of high optical and chemical purity. The versatile products are used mainly to manufacture process chemicals, pharmaceuticals and crop protection products, as well as cosmetic products and detergents. They also serve to produce coatings, special plastics, composites and special fibres.

The company’s intermediates division, which produces the amines, generated sales to third parties of about EUR2.8 billion in 2013.