The new BASF Acetylene Plant in Ludwigshafen
The time has come: BASF takes on stream its new acetylene plant at the Ludwigshafen Verbund site. It starts production with an annual capacity of 90,000 metric tons. After a transition period of several months, it will finally replace the previous plant, which went into operation in 1964.
The most efficient acetylene plant in the world
Two hydrogen and two carbon atoms: This is acetylene. The colorless gas is made from natural gas and oxygen. Around 20 plants in BASF's Production Verbund process acetylene and its derivatives.
As a versatile chemical building block, acetylene is an important starting material for many everyday products. Examples are plastics, pharmaceuticals, solvents, electrochemicals and highly elastic textile fibers. BASF customers use these products in the automotive, pharma, construction, consumer goods and textiles industries.
The new acetylene plant consumes about 10 percent fewer fossil raw materials per ton of end product than its predecessor.
A construction site with extraordinary dimensions
More than 35,000 cubic meters of concrete and 8,500 tons of steel were used in the 40,000 square meter area. At peak times, 1,500 employees were on site, laying almost 90 kilometers of pipes and 850 kilometers of cable.
A total of 440 customized fractionating columns, machines and technical equipment from twelve countries were assembled and installed. The heart of the plant is a gas separation unit 60 meters long and weighing 225 tons which was transported by ship from China to Ludwigshafen.
Categories
Investments
2016-01-01
at BASF SE, Ludwigshafen (DE)Countries
Companies
Latest news
PureCycle Receives REACH Certification, Unlocking EU Sales of PureFive™ Resin
Port Of Antwerp →PureCycle Technologies has received the REACH Certificate of Compliance, allowing the Company to sell PureFive™ resin to customers in the European Union. PureCycle has plans to build its first Euro...
ECLUSE Scheldt Tunnel Completed: Belgium’s longest microtunnel is now a reality
Port Of Antwerp →Work on extending the ECLUSE steam network from the left to the right bank of the Scheldt has reached a major milestone. The tunnel that will carry the pipelines beneath the river has now been comp...
CO₂ as a raw material: new process makes climate gas usable for the chemical industry
Researchers from the Leibniz Institute for Catalysis (LIKAT), Ruhr University Bochum and Evonik Oxeno have developed a novel catalyst system that enables the use of the climate gas carbon dioxide (...
Supply and demand in the hydrogen value chain in north Netherlands coming together slowly but surely
Energy company RWE plans to build two large green hydrogen plants at Eemshaven and has already received grants to do just that. Still, the company has not yet made an investment decision. Lijs Groe...