Basf announced on September 4 that it has broken ground on a world-class syngas plant at BASF's Zhanjiang Integrated site, which is scheduled to begin production in 2025.
In contrast to traditional syngas plants, BASF will use a unique process concept in this syngas plant, which will produce cost-competitive syngas and hydrogen for use in downstream production plants at BASF's integrated site.
The production technology used in the syngas plant is the first of its kind in China, which mainly produces syngas from carbon dioxide gas produced as a by-product of the ethylene oxide production process and excess fuel gas produced in the steam cracking plant. These innovative process technologies help to reduce direct CO2 emissions at the Zhanjiang integrated site, in particular by reducing the carbon footprint of butanol and ethylene oxide products.
In addition to the above feedstocks, the flexible design of the syngas plant can also use other feedstocks to ensure the reliability of production. The electricity required for the installation will be supplied by the grid throughout the site and will be powered by 100% renewable energy by 2025.
The Zhanjiang Integrated base project is BASF's largest single investment project to date, with a total investment of 10 billion euros, and is independently built and operated by BASF. When completed, the site will be BASF's third largest production site in the world, after Ludwigshafen in Germany and Antwerp in Belgium.
The first set of BASF Zhanjiang Integrated base project will be built in 2020. In July 2022, BASF Europe made the final investment decision and announced the comprehensive promotion of the Zhanjiang integrated base. Previously, the world-class acrylic acid production complex and neopentyl glycol plant have broken ground, and the polyethylene (PE) plant has also started construction, all of which are scheduled to be commissioned in 2025.
