OREANDA-NEWS. BASF announced it is inaugurating a new plant in Yeosu, Korea to strengthen the supply of Ultrason(r) polyarylsulfone, one of the company's high performance thermoplastics. The new plant, with an annual production capacity of 6,000 metric tons, will better serve the growing market in Asia Pacific.

"The production of our high performance plastic specialty Ultrason in Korea supports our goal to locally produce approximately 75% of all BASF products we sell in Asia Pacific by 2020, and demonstrates our commitment to this fast growing market," said Raimar Jahn, President, Performance Materials, BASF.

The new plant is the first of its kind to be built outside of Germany and brings the company's global capacity of Ultrason polyarylsulfone to 18,000 metric tons per year. With this investment, BASF also creates 50 new jobs at its Yeosu site.

Ultrason is widely applied in the electronics, automotive and aerospace industries for the production of heat-resistant, lightweight components. Other popular Ultrason applications include membranes for water treatment, fittings for drinking water pipelines or food contact parts as in espresso machines, or microwave-proof dishes. Ultrason is also used in the production of carbon fiber composite materials.

"The Yeosu plant brings us closer to our customers in the region and enables us to better support the growth of key local industries - partly driven by the global development of many new Ultrason applications. Another important value proposition is shorter lead times," said WooSung Shin, Managing Director, BASF Korea.

As one of the top three electrical and electronic goods manufacturing countries in the world, Korea is well positioned to benefit from local availability and production of Ultrason. By locating the site in Yeosu, BASF will also be able to serve other major markets for Ultrason such as China and Japan.

Ultrason is the trade name for the BASF product range of polyethersulfone (Ultrason (r)  E), polysulfone (Ultrason (r)   S), and polyphenylsulfone (Ultrason (r)   P). The product can withstand temperatures up to 220 degrees centigrade without altering its properties, and possesses outstanding chemical stability.