BASF Aktiengesellschaft, Ludwigshafen, Germany, and Toray Industries Inc., Tokyo, Japan, have agreed to form a 50-50 joint venture for the production of polybutylene terephthalate (PBT) base resin to supply the rapidly growing Asian market for this engineering plastic. The newly formed company, Toray BASF PBT Resin Sdn Bhd, will build a world-scale PBT plant with an annual capacity of 60,000 metric tons at BASF’s Verbund site in Kuantan, Malaysia. Construction will start middle of this year and the new plant is scheduled to come on stream at the beginning of 2006. The total investment for the plant is approximately USD 40 million. The new plant will be operated with the most advanced polymerisation technology from Toray and the main raw material, namely butanediol (BDO) will be procured based on technology from BASF’s subsidiary next door.
Polybutylene terephthalate is a thermoplastic polyester. Typical applications are in automotive construction and mechanical engineering as well as the electrical and electronics industries.
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