SHANGHAI—Shanghai BASF Polyurethane Co. Ltd. will expand production of toluene diisocyanate at its Shanghai Chemical Industry Park another 60,000 tons a year, as it invests in several of its operations.
The firm will spend $65 million to upgrade its nitric acid, dinitrotoluene and TDA/TDI facilities. Capacity at the plant will increase to 220,000 tons a year when the project is expected to be completed, in 2016.
When the facilities go into operation, SBPC's nitric acid capacity will rise from 390,000 tons a year to 416,000 tons a year, and the company is looking to a yearly external purchase of 41kT upstream feedstock to meet the demand of the expansion. The capacity of SBPC's DNT facilities will increase from 190,000 tons a year to 260,000 tons a year.
TDI and hydrochloric acid from the new facilities are planned for external sales. HCl will be sold to Shanghai Chlor-Alkali Chemical, the company said.
Shanghai BASF Polyurethane is located in the Shanghai Chemical Industry Park of Caojing, Shanghai. It is a joint venture of BASF, Shanghai Hua Yi (Group) Company and Sinopec Assets Management Corporation. The company has four manufacturing plants, including a MDI plant for MDI distillation and three other facilities for the production of TDI and its precursors.