OREANDA-NEWS. BASF, the world's leading chemical company, broke ground today on a new, world-scale chemical catalysts production facility at the company's existing site in the Shanghai Chemical Industry Park in Caojing, Shanghai, China.

The new plant - BASF's first process catalysts manufacturing facility in Asia Pacific - will produce base metal catalysts, custom catalysts and adsorbents to meet growing Chinese and Asian market demand. These catalysts are used in the production of fatty alcohols, sulfuric acid and butanediol and for the removal of impurities from olefins.

"Today's groundbreaking event is a significant milestone in our effort to strengthen our manufacturing footprint in Asia Pacific and improve our proximity to customers in the fastest growing region for our base metal and custom catalysts solutions," said Detlef Ruff, BASF's Senior Vice President, Process Catalysts. "This new facility will be integrated into our global chemical catalysts manufacturing infrastructure allowing us to support strong regional demand growthwhile increasing our manufacturing capacity and overall production efficiencies."

The launch of manufacturing activities at the Caojing plant is planned for the fourth quarter of 2016. Once operating at full capacity, the plant will create 75 new jobs.

The Caojing plant is designed in a highly automated and energy efficient manner, offering the opportunity for future expansion and the flexibility to adapt to new customer production requirements in the years ahead.