BASF has broken ground on the third and final phase of the methylene diphenyl diisocyanate (MDI) expansion project at its Verbund site in Geismar, LA, after announcing it in July 2022.
This phase involves adding upstream units and a splitter and will take place from 2022 to 2025. The first phase saw the addition of an MDI synthesis unit in October 2020, and starting in 2021, the second phase expanded existing upstream units. The company says this project, which kicked off in 2018, will increase its production capacity to approximately 600,000 metric tons per year by the middle of the decade.
BASF has invested $780 million in this final phase; including the first and second phases, the investment volume totals around $1 billion, making the MDI expansion project BASF’s largest wholly owned investment in North America.
Clay Schexnayder, Speaker of the House for the Louisiana State Legislature, attended the official groundbreaking ceremony.