BASF has broken ground for the announced in July 2022 third and final expansion phase at the production facility for methylenediphenyl isocyanates (MDI) at the Verbund site in Geismar, Louisiana, USA. The company will increase production capacity to approximately 600,000 tons per year by mid-decade to support the continued growth of MDI customers in North America.
The investment in the third expansion phase from 2022 to 2025 amounts to around 780 million dollars. Together with the first and second expansion phase, the total investment is around one billion dollars. This makes the MDI expansion BASF’s largest standalone investment in North America.
“BASF is already one of the largest and most forward-looking chemical companies in the United States,” said Michael Heinz, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of BASF Corporation. “With this investment, we underline our efforts to serve the needs of our customers in the best possible way while at the same time strengthening the basis for our further growth in the important US market.”
BASF welcomed Clay Schexnayder, Speaker of the House of Representatives from the Louisiana State Legislature, to officially break ground on the final phase of the expansion.
“We are determined to continue the success story together with our North American MDI customers,” said Stefan Doerr, senior vice president, Monomers North America. “BASF is investing to support our customers in a variety of industries with significant growth potential in MDI applications, including transportation, automotive, footwear and furniture.”
The expansion project launched in 2018 follows a multi-stage approach. First, a new MDI synthesis plant went into operation in October 2020. The second phase, which began operations in 2021, expanded existing upstream units. The third and final phase will add new upstream units and a splitter. Based on modern technologies, the extension will follow the highest security standards and apply new digitization processes.