BASF and Petronas commence the construction of HR-PIB production facility in Malaysia

Malaysia: BASF PETRONAS Chemicals, a joint venture between BASF, the Germany based global chemical giant and the national oil company of Malaysia, that is, Petronas, have begun the construction of a production facility for manufacturing 2-Ethylhexanoic Acid (2-EHAcid), a highly reactive polyisobutene (HR-PIB). HR-P is used for the production of high performance fuel additives and lubricants, that includes additives for sludge prevention. The manufacturing facility in Kuantan, with a total capacity of 50,000 metric tons of HR-PIB per year, is expected to commence operations by the end of 2017. The state-of-the-art facility would be the first-of-its kind in South-East Asia.

TechSci Research depicts that the investments made by both BASF and Petronas for building of the manufacturing facility in Malaysia, would cater to the fuel additives demand in the Asian market and would strengthen BASF’s global footprint as the leading supplier of HR-PIB.

According to TechSci Research report “United States Fuel Additives Market  Forecast and Opportunities, 2020”, the US fuel additives market is projected to grow at a CAGR of over 6% during 2015-20. The fuel additives market in the US is dominated by biofuels, which are added to diesel, followed by fuel ethanol, which is added to gasoline, to help the fuel burn cleaner and improve vehicle efficiency. Increasing demand for specialty fuel additives, abundant availability of biomass feedstock used for production of biofuels and mandates issued by the US Environment Protection Agency (EPA) on biofuel consumption are expected to drive the demand for fuel additives in the US through 2020.