BASF Launches Plant for Biodiesel in Brazil
7 February 2012 Ludwigshafen , Germany – BASF launched its new sodium methylate production in Brazil and confirmed it will add another plant in Argentina, as South America’s demand for biodiesel increases.
The facility, located in Guaratinguetá, Brazil, is BASF’s largest site in South America. The plant, which began production at the end of 2011, has a capacity of 60,000 metric tons per year and is supplying the regional market, it said. Expenditures for the plant were in the “low double-digit million euro range.”
“We have invested in a new production plant to further strengthen our competitive position in the fast-growing market for biodiesel in South America, said Stefano Pigozzi, President of BASF’s Inorganic Chemicals in a statement. “This start-up supports our strategic initiative to work as closely as possible with our customers and to serve them even better by providing a local and stable supply of sodium methylate.”
Sodium methylate is a catalyst for the production of biodiesel, which has increasingly become an important alternative for diesel fuels. Legislation in Brazil requires fuel to contain 5% biodiesel. In Argentina, biodiesel makes up 7% of fuel. Other South American countries have similar legislation.
In addition to the Brazilian plant, BASF also operates a sodium methylate plant in Ludwigshafen, Germany. Its second South American plant is planned at BASF’s General Lagos site in Rosario, which is in the center of Argentina’s biodiesel production.
BASF has said it expects about 20% of the annual global demand for biodiesel – about 30 million tons – to come from South America in 2015.
“This investment in the new plant responds to the growing market opportunity for biodiesel in the region,” said Dr. Alfred Hackenberger, BASF President for South America. “As announced last year, we are planning to build a second plant in South America in order to accompany South America’s intended growth for biodiesel.”
You can find further information about sodium methylate and alcoholates at www.inorganics.basf.com
Source: BASF, Edited by Jaclyn Sindrich, Managing Editor and Stefanie A. Toth, Online Editor
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