China has announced massive investments in one of the country's largest petrochemical industry sites. In Zhanjiang, at the southern tip of the People's Republic in Guangdong Province, another 45.2 billion dollars is being pumped into a Verbund site which will focus on petrochemicals and steel production over the next five years. The German chemical giant BASF is right in the middle of all this.

BASF has plans to construct a commercial-scale battery recycling black mass plant in Schwarzheide, Germany. With a processing capacity of 15,000 tons of EV batteries and production scrap every year, the plant is expected to be built to the highest EHS standards.

Which sectors of the chemical industry in China offer the greatest growth opportunities? Anyone pursuing this question will sooner or later come into contact with an idea that many people in China are downright obsessed with. ‘Overtaking the curve’ is the name of this idea. China Market Insider knows what this means and why China's chemical industry is hoping for the 5G boom.

With an aim to increase production capacity for optical brighteners amidst growing demand across the globe, BASF made the hefty investment at its Monthey site. The significant increase in production capacity at the site has now been achieved.

BASF’s Puristar R0-20 catalyst and Sorbead Adsorption Technology is being assessed by Shell for producing green hydrogen. Both the technologies are now under Shell’s portfolio for potential use across its global green hydrogen projects.

BASF has added an additional production line to its existing facilities with an aim to expand its antioxidant production capacity in Singapore. The additional capacity will cater to the rapidly-growing Asia Pacific and Middle East markets.

BASF has started up a new methane sulfonic acid (MSA) plant at its Verbund site in Ludwigshafen, Germany in the background of growing demand for MSA across the globe. The investment is expected to increase capacity at the site to a total of 50,000 metric tons annually.

With an action plan to promote ‘green petrochemical clusters’, the Chinese southern province of Guangdong wants to encourage further growth in the industry. The ambitious plans are valid up to 2025, i.e. parallel to the People's Republic's new five-year plan, which is currently being tied up in the corridors of power in Beijing. What is the industry’s future in the region?

In a recent announcement by BASF, the company has undertaken the decision to wind down its operations in Russia, Belarus due to the ongoing conflict between Russia and Ukraine. However, the food production business will be sparred as the firm fears a global food crisis in the midst of the war.

The proprietary ‘Star’ dehydrogenation process which can produce propylene from propane feedstocks or iso-butylene from iso-butane feedstocks has been optimized by thyssenkrupp Uhde and BASF. The technology is now capable of reducing CO2 emissions and operating costs through lower energy consumption by up to 30 %.