BASF and China Petroleum and Chemical Corp, also known as Sinopec, inaugurated on Friday the expanded downstream chemical plants at the Verbund site operated by BASF-YPC Co Ltd (BASF-YPC), a 50-50 joint venture of both companies in Nanjing.

The expansion is a strategic response to the growing demand from various industries in the Chinese market, it said.

A new tert-butyl acrylate (TBA) plant is also expected to come on stream by the end of 2023, the first implementation of this advanced production technology outside of Germany. TBA is a monofunctional monomer that offers outstanding chemical resistance, weatherability and hydrophobicity. These properties make it widely used in industries such as paper, coatings, adhesives and inks.

"I am proud to celebrate the commencement of our new plants at the Nanjing Verbund site, which marks another milestone in our longstanding partnership with SINOPEC," said Markus Kamieth, member of the Board of Executive Directors, BASF SE.

"BASF-YPC sets a high standard for safety and business performance among our joint ventures globally and will continue to enable our business growth in China with this expansion."

The new facilities, powered by renewable electricity, will also further reduce carbon emissions during production and make chemicals with low product carbon footprints available to the market, said BASF.