BASF has agreed a deal to source green electricity for hydrogen production at the Ludwigshafen verbund site from a 2 gigawatt offshore wind farm that German energy giant RWE already has at the planning stage. This will also enable BSAF to electrify the production of multiple basic chemicals and 2.8 million tonnes/year of CO2 emissions at the site.

BASF and Chicago-based carbon recycling technology firm LanzaTech have announced a key “first success” in a project to turn the carbon from industrial off-gases into high-value chemicals. They have made n-octanol, which is used in cosmetics among other applications, from CO and hydrogen at laboratory scale.

BASF and Umicore have entered into a non-exclusive patent cross-license agreement covering a broad range of cathode active materials (CAMs) and their precursors. CAMs are used in lithium-ion batteries and both firms have been investing in them heavily, creating what they called “sizeable and largely complementary patent portfolios”.

BASF has signed two distinct partnerships agreements to expand its position in biobased surfactants. These deals were made, the company said, in response to “the ever-increasing needs of consumers for sustainable, natural and biodegradable ingredients and actives”.

BASF has taken a majority stake in Allied Carbon Solutions (ACS), a Japanese maker of biomass-derived surfactants. This includes an exclusive technology cooperation, a commercial agreement and joint product development in sophorolipids, a class of glycolipids, for use in surfactants with targeted performance.

BASF has agreed to sell its manufacturing site in Kankakee, Illinois and the associated businesses of vegetable-oil-based raw material sterols and natural vitamin E, anionic surfactants and esters to private equity firm One Rock Capital Partners. Terms are not being disclosed. Subject to regulatory approval, this should be completed in 1H 2021.

BASF has announced plans to provide total product carbon footprints (PCFs), measuring CO₂ emissions for all of its 45,000 sales products. It has been doing this for individual products since 2007 and, using an in-house digital system, will do this for the full range by the end of 2021.

BASF management and representatives of the 34,000 employees at the Ludwigshafen verbund site in Germany have signed a new site agreement. This will run from 1 June to the end of 2025, replacing one that was due to expire at the end of 2020.