BASF, Germany, has received permission from the Chinese State Council to build a new production
facility for polytetrahydrofuran (PolyTHF®) and tetrahydrofuran (THF) in the Shanghai Chemical
Industry Park in Shanghai.
This will be the first wholly owned investment project by BASF in China. In Asia, BASF also
has THF and PolyTHF production facilities in Korea and Japan. The facility, scheduled to open in
2004, will be the largest PolyTHF production facility in the world, with an annual capacity of
60,000 metric tons of PolyTHF and 80,000 metric tons of THF.
The facility’s plants will convert butane directly to THF and then to PolyTHF. The plants are
expected to supply the expanding spandex fibers market in China, following its accession to the
World Trade Organization (WTO) in 2005.
August 2002