BASF Coatings plans further capacity expansion
BASF Coatings AG intends to invest about 3.5 million euros to expand its facilities for the production of special binders to be used in the manufacture of eco-efficient coatings from the current level of 90,000 tons to 100,000 tons per year. The company decided to increase the size of its world scale production installation because of its own growing demand for modern binders. The investment will bring BASF's total global output of this type of binders to approximately 210,000 tons per year.
The capacity expansion also covers the future large scale production of a novel binder that is needed to manufacture a new generation of so-called powder slurry coatings. Powder slurries are powder coatings finely dispersed in water by means of a special method for use in the unique Integrated Coating Concept. The concept has been applied successfully in the Mercedes A-Class coating line at DaimlerChrysler's Rastatt site since 1997. It involves new paint materials and application systems with which a massive reduction in energy usage and emissions has been achieved and the coatings consumption lowered by about 20 percent without sacrificing quality. The coating concept has so far won seven awards, including the "2001 Automotive News PACE Award" in the open category of environmental advances that BASF received in Detroit this year, and the 1st prize that the Federation of German Industries (BDI) granted the company in an environmental protection contest in 1998.
Binders: essential to the production of coatings
In the production facility at its Münster site, BASF Coatings AG manufactures a number of binders for the production of different types of paint. Along with pigments, extenders, solvents and additives, binders are essential paint components. All in all, BASF Coatings has ten binder production installations world-wide, of which four are located in Europe, three in Brazil, two in the USA and one in Argentina. The binder plant in Münster is the largest installation of its type world-wide within the BASF Group's Coatings Division. Most of the binders that are made there are supplied to BASF Coatings companies in Europe, NAFTA and China for further processing. Approximately five percent of the global binder output are sold to other companies.
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