BASF has formed a partnership with Slovenian white biotech Acies Bio. Under this it will further develop the latter’s OneCarbonBio fermentation platform to derive methanol for the production of fatty alcohols for home and personal care ingredients, notably surfactants.

At its Capital Markets Day in Ludwigshafen, BASF presented a corporate strategy that, it said, “is setting a new direction”. ‘Winning Ways’ is set along four strategic levers of Focus, Accelerate, Transform and Win. “Our ambition is to be the preferred chemical company to enable our customers’ green transformation,” said Dr Markus Kamieth, chairman of the board of executive directors (pictured).

BASF is to end production of three chemicals at its main site in Ludwigshafen. This is part of an ongoing strategic review that is being undertaken “to ensure competitiveness under changing market conditions” and will lead to about 180 job cuts.

BASF, the Austrian Research Centre of Industrial Biotechnology (ACIB) and the University of Graz in Austria have co-developed a computer-assisted regression model to improve enzyme performance and enable biocatalytic processes to be scaled up faster. With this model, they said, “it becomes easier to determine the optimal combination as only a few preliminary lab tests, such as determining the unfolding curve of the enzyme, are necessary”.

Solenis is to acquire BASF’s flocculants business for mining applications in a deal that should close within 2H 2024. Financial details are not being disclosed. Solenis had previously acquired BASF’s paper wet-end and water chemicals business in 2019.

Jacques Herber, Solenis’s CBO in EMEA and Asia said that brining the BASF sales team on board “will allow us to develop closer relationships with our customers by providing more solutions and added value to their operations and will eliminate supply agreements between BASF and Solenis.”

BASF has revealed that it is collaborating with three German universities on a project to make fumaric acid from the Basfia succiniciproducens bacterium by fermentation. The company uses fumaric acid as a chemical intermediate for various low carbon footprint products, including food and feed additives for, pharmaceutical raw materials and building blocks for polymers and detergents.

According to the latest annual report by brand valuation consultancy, Brand Finance, BASF is still the most valuable chemicals brand with a brand value of $9.2 billion 11% up on 2023, and a brand strength rating (BSR) of AAA-. It ranked fourth in the brand strength index with score of 80.7 of 100. This is the tenth consecutive year that BASF has topped the chemicals segment.