OREANDA-NEWS. December 14, 2012. BASF has started up a facility to produce solid AH salt in Ludwigshafen with a capacity of 24,000 metric tons per year. In contrast to the existing 62% AH salt solution, with solid AH salt, BASF is especially targeting long distance markets which cannot be served economically with an aqueous solution. AH salt is an intermediate for the production of polyamide 6.6.

“Customers around the world, especially in Asia, have expressed a strong interest in importing crystallized AH salt“, said Hermann Althoff, Senior Vice President Global Business Unit Polyamide and Intermediates. “T he additional offering, with its new logistics options can operate very efficiently and flexibly within the polyamide 6.6 Verbund structure at our site in Ludwigshafen, Germany.

Cost effective “Verbund” structure for polyamide 6.6 in Ludwigshafen

BASF produces polyamide 6.6 at the Ludwigshafen site within a highly efficient production structure which includes facilities for the production of polyamide 6.6 polymer, adipic acid as well as facilities for relevant chemical raw materials (nitric acid, cyclohexane), energy, byproduct recovery, logistics and other services. The intermediate hexamethylene diamine (HMD) is produced by a BASF plant at the Seal Sands (Great Britain) site, operated by INEOS.

Polyamide 6.6 is used for engineering plastics and fibers. Therefore, applications include a wide range of products from light-weight automotive components for cars to carpets and textiles.