Factbook
Performance Chemicals
As an innovative partner, the Performance Chemicals division offers chemicals for various customer industries and applications such as plastics, automotive, refineries, lubricants, oilfield and mining. Our highly qualified and experienced team has outstanding market knowledge. Together with our innovation platform and application know-how, this ensures BASF’s technological competence and allows us to provide our customers with excellent solutions.
Sales by direct customer industry 20241
Portfolio
Chemical catalysts and adsorbents
BASF is a leading global manufacturer of catalysts for the chemical industry, with solutions across the chemical value chain. The business comprises chemical catalysts, adsorbent solutions and custom catalysts. Priority is given to developing new and improved products that enable the chemical industry transformation to net-zero emissions.
Fuel and lubricant solutions
BASF is one of the leading suppliers of formulations and components for the global automotive and mineral oil industries. Our portfolio includes:
- Brake fluids and engine coolants
- Fuel additives, lubricant additives and additive packages, base stocks, lubricants
- Low, medium and high molecular weight polyisobutene (PIB)
Mining solutions
BASF’s mining solutions business offers a diverse range of mineral processing and hydrometallurgical chemistries and technologies to improve process efficiencies and the economic extraction of valuable resources. Our offer includes reagents and process technologies focusing on applications such as leaching, solvent extraction and flotation.
Oilfield chemicals
Based on industry-leading technical expertise, we offer a wide range of sustainable solutions and high-quality products that help our customers develop efficient formulations for the oil and gas industry. Our product portfolio includes:
- Chemicals for drilling, cementing and stimulation for the completion of production wells
- Additives for continuous and cost-efficient production of oil and gas
- Next-generation surfactants and polymers designed to support enhanced oil recovery (EOR) operations
Plastic additives
BASF is the globally leading supplier for stabilizers and additive blends to the plastics and rubber industries. The product range includes high-performance light and thermal stabilizers, antioxidants, process stabilizers, UV absorbers and other specialty additives for those industries. We continuously analyze, assess and actively improve our portfolio toward solutions which make a larger contribution to sustainability. The main fields of application are:
- Automotive
- Agricultural films
- Construction materials
- Electrical and electronics
- Fibers and tapes
- Mechanical recycling
- Packaging and consumer goods
Refining catalysts
BASF is a provider of novel catalysts for the petroleum refining industry, offering tailored fluid catalytic cracking (FCC) catalyst and additive solutions based on its customers’ specific needs. With a strong focus on customer-driven research and development, BASF continuously innovates its portfolio of FCC refining catalysts, creating new technologies that enhance operational efficiency and profitability in the refining industry.
Market position and main competitors
The Performance Chemicals division holds one of the top three market positions in almost all of the strategic business areas in which it is active.
The main competitors (alphabetical order) include Afton, Clariant, Ketjen, Lanxess, Songwon, Suqian Unitechem, Syensqo and W.R. Grace.
Focus of research and development
Developing solutions together with our customers and ensuring technology leadership to improve our cost position are crucial to the success of Performance Chemicals. By leveraging the breadth of our competencies, we develop products that help improve the performance of our customers’ products and processes. We utilize advances in data analytics, modelling and automation to accelerate development and enable faster implementation of innovations. With sustainability as a key growth driver for our businesses, we focus our innovation pipeline on solutions that will enable the transformations in the end markets. Important fields are resource efficiency, emissions reduction and the circular economy.
Major production sites
| Product group | Site |
| Chemical catalysts and adsorbents | Elyria, Ohio; Ludwigshafen and Nienburg, Germany; Rome, Italy; Seneca, South Carolina; Shanghai, China; Vidalia, Louisiana |
| Fuel and lubricant solutions | Antwerp, Belgium; Cincinnati, Ohio; Dahej, India; Geismar, Louisiana; Guaratinguetá, Brazil; Kaisten, Switzerland; Kuantan, Malaysia; Lampertheim and Ludwigshafen, Germany; McIntosh, Alabama; Meaux, France; Nanjing and Shanghai, China; Puebla, Mexico; Singapore |
| Mining solutions | Cork, Ireland; Guaratinguetá and Jacarei, Brazil; Ludwigshafen, Germany |
| Oilfield chemicals | Lerma, Mexico; Tarragona, Spain; Trostberg, Germany |
| Plastic additives | Kaisten, Switzerland; Lampertheim, Germany; Manama, Bahrain; McIntosh, Alabama; Pontecchio Marconi, Italy; Puebla, Mexico; Shanghai, China; Singapore |
| Refinery catalysts | Attapulgus, Edgar and Savannah, Georgia |
Acquisitions/JVs/investments
From 2022 onward
| Product group | Description | Year |
| Chemical catalysts and adsorbents | Construction of global Catalyst Development and Solids Processing Center in Ludwigshafen, Germany | 2024 |
| Construction of additional production capacity for X3D® catalyst shaping technology in Ludwigshafen, Germany | 2025 | |
| Fuel and lubricant solutions | Capacity expansion for synthetic ester base stocks in Jinshan, China | 2022 |
| New fuel performance additives plant in Shanghai, China | 2022 | |
| Plastic additives | Capacity expansion for Irganox® 1010 in Singapore | 2022 |
| Capacity expansion for hindered amine light stabilizers (HALS) in Pontecchio Marconi, Italy, and Lampertheim, Germany | 2024 |
Divestitures/shutdowns
From 2022 onward
| Product group | Description | Year |
| Kaolin minerals business | Sale of kaolin minerals business to KaMin LLC. / CADAM S.A. (KaMin) | 2022 |
| Mining solutions | Divestiture of flocculants business for mining applications to Solenis | 2024 |
Innovation
Successful MOF scale-up offers significant opportunities for CO2 reduction
Metal-organic frameworks (MOFs) are highly crystalline structures with nanometer-sized pores and a large surface area. One gram of MOF material can have a surface area equivalent to that of a football field. This structure offers a high adsorption capacity for various gases, including carbon dioxide, moisture, and methane. MOFs can be used in carbon capture and removal applications, helping to significantly reduce carbon emissions in various industrial sectors including hydrogen, pulp and paper, cement, steel, aluminum and chemicals. In collaboration with Svante Technologies Inc., a Canadian provider of carbon capture and removal solutions, BASF has become the first company to successfully produce MOFs on a commercial scale for carbon capture.