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Recently, another project cluster began construction at BASF’s Zhanjiang integrated facility! The project portfolio mainly includes neopentyl glycol (NPG) and citral plants. World-scale NPG plant: BASF strengthens its global footprint in neopentyl glycol. This new NPG plant with an annual production capacity of 80,000 tons is expected to come online in the fourth quarter of 2025, at which point BASF’s global annual NPG production capacity will increase to 335,000 tons. Currently, BASF has NPG production facilities in Nanjing and Jilin in China, Ludwigshafen in Germany, and Freeport in the United States. The fifth NPG plant invested in Zhanjiang will help BASF meet the growing market demands of its customers in China, particularly in the field of environmentally friendly powder coatings. It will also bring BASF closer to its customers in South China, thereby strengthening business ties further. As an intermediate with high chemical and thermal stability, NPG is primarily used in the production of polyester resins for powder coatings, which can be applied to the coating of household appliances and window frames, among other things. Due to the low content of volatile organic compounds (VOCs) in powder coatings, they help customers meet VOC emission standards, with VOC emissions dapat being reduced by up to 50% compared to solvent-based coatings. NPG is also used in the manufacture of lubricants, plasticizers, and pharmaceuticals. Citral apparatus: This project group also includes a set of citral apparatus. At the beginning of this month, BASF announced plans to invest in building a new citral production facility at its integrated plant in Zhanjiang, China, as well as new downstream facilities for menthol and linalool at its integrated plant in Ludwigshafen, Germany. These devices are expected to come into operation starting in 2026. It is reported that the drive behind this investment stems from the growing demand in the global flavors and fragrances market, as well as BASF’s firm commitment to a sustainable transformation. China’s citral facility will strengthen BASF’s market position in key growth regions and expand the production scale of various fragrance ingredients as well as more downstream products worldwide. Meanwhile, this investment will expand the production scale of BASF’s fragrance raw material citral along the value chain in Germany and Malaysia, diversify production, and support customer growth. Following the investment, BASF’s annual production capacity for citral will increase to 118,000 tons. Citral is a fundamental ingredient in many fragrances and flavorings; it also serves as a upstream raw material for products such as vitamin A and vitamin E in the nutraceutical market. Additionally, just on the 13th of this month, BASF announced on its official website that construction has begun on a new production complex at its Zhanjiang integrated site. This complex will include facilities for glacial acrylic acid (GAA), butyl acrylate (BA), and 2-ethylhexyl acrylate (2-EHA). The complex is scheduled to come online in 2025, at which time it will have an annual production capacity of around 400,000 tons of butyl acrylate and about 100,000 tons of 2-ethylhexyl acrylate.