The construction of BASF’s Zhanjiang City integrated base has made significant progress. On January 18, 2024, BASF officially held the inauguration ceremony of the thermoplastic polyurethane (TPU) plant at the Zhanjiang City integrated base. As the world's largest single TPU production line, the facility is powered by 100% renewable energy and implements the concept of smart and sustainable production in its operations. After one year of stable operation and market verification, the device has the ability to provide the market with stable, recyclable and innovative TPU material solutions, with production capacity covering the entire Asia-Pacific network.
1. Construction progress of core equipment at BASF’s integrated Zhanjiang site
On February 5, 2025, Haryono Lim (Singapore), President of BASF Group's Asia Mega Projects, revealed at the Guangdong Province High-Quality Development Conference Sub-Forum that the core equipment of BASF's Zhanjiang City Integrated Base is progressing steadily and is expected to be put into production by the end of 2025. This marks a new milestone in BASF's investment in China and also demonstrates the amazing strength of Guangdong's speed. The core equipment of the base includes a steam cracking unit with an annual output of 1 million tons of ethylene, as well as multiple downstream units, which will be widely used in multiple industries such as automobiles, construction, high-speed rail, electronic appliances, food packaging, home and personal care, aerospace and pharmaceuticals.
II. Detailed construction content of BASF’s integrated base in Zhanjiang
The construction content of BASF's integrated base in Zhanjiang City is very rich, covering the production of a variety of chemical products. Specifically, the construction content includes 660,000/830,000/200,000 tons/year of ethylene oxide/ethylene glycol/refined ethylene oxide units, 215,000 tons/year of non-ionic surfactant units, 500,000 tons/year of polyethylene units, 2×190,000 tons/year of glacial acrylic acid units, 375,000 tons/year of butyl acrylate units, 100,000 tons/year of isooctyl acrylate units, 500,000 tons/year of butyl octanol units, 50,000 standard cubic meters/hour of synthesis gas units, 80,000 tons/year (100% discount) of neopentyl glycol units, 110,000 tons/year of formaldehyde units, 40,000 tons/year of citral units, etc. In addition, it is also equipped with public works and auxiliary facilities, using naphtha, n-butane, etc. as raw materials to produce ethylene, propylene, benzene, toluene, xylene, cracking fuel oil, isobutylene, etc. and downstream products.
III. Investment scale and status of BASF’s integrated Zhanjiang site
The Zhanjiang City integrated base project is BASF's largest single investment project to date, with a total investment of 10 billion euros, and will be independently constructed and operated by BASF. The base will become BASF's third largest production base in the world, second only to the Ludwigshafen base in Germany and the Antwerp base in Belgium. The entire integrated base project is expected to be completed around 2030. The completion of this project will not only significantly increase BASF's production capacity in China, but also meet the needs of customers in multiple growth industries in South China and the entire Asian market.
“As sustainability issues take hold in the industry, we are focusing on innovation and co-creation, and are focusing on projects that help our customers achieve their sustainability goals and green transformation in a more cost-effective way,” said Andy Postlethwaite, Senior Vice President, Performance Materials Asia Pacific, BASF. “We are pleased to showcase solutions that not only meet market needs, but also disrupt the plastics industry.”