(BASF) -- BASF has been producing caprolactam using a large-scale continuous process at Ludwigshafen for half a century now. During this time around 6.5 million tons of the polyamide 6 intermediate have left the site. ⌠We have constantly improved the production process and expanded the capacity during continuous operation over the past 50 years without major total plant shutdowns. This demonstrates the strong competence of the production team and the advantage of operating a highly complex technology within an integrated structure (Verbund), comments Hermann Althoff, Senior Vice President of the global business unit Polyamide and Intermediates. With two more plants at Antwerp, Belgium, and Freeport Texas, USA, and a total production capacity of 800,000 tons per year, BASF today is the world's largest manufacturer of caprolactam.
Perspectives of development of polymer markets, pricing issues and other important aspects will be discussed at The Polymers Summit-2011, which will be held in Moscow on November 30, 2011 at the Ritz Carlton Hotel. The Summit will be organized by MRC with the support of ICIS. The main idea of the Summit is to find a "the golden mean" between producers and converters. When producers receive exactly such margin of production, which helps them to invest in production expansion in order to substitute polymers imports, and the converters receive such price of feedstock that helps them to compete imported finished products. The Summit site gives an access to the live video of the Summit, speakers" presentations, as well as opportunities to ask questions or make appointments to any Summit partcipant.