Chemical giant BASF builds its first European battery material processing base

On October 22, local time, BASF Group, the world's second largest chemical company, announced that it will build the first European battery material processing base in Harjavalta, Finland, to serve the European new energy vehicle market. The base will be built near Norilsk Nickel's nickel and cobalt refineries. This is BASF's first foray into the new energy vehicle materials market. BASF was founded in 1865 and is headquartered in Ludwigshafen, Germany. Its products fall into five major business areas: chemicals, specialty products, functional materials and processing methods, agricultural processing methods, and oil and natural gas. BASF's global sales in 2017 were approximately 64.5 billion euros. BASF AG (bASFSE), the abbreviation bASF is derived from the old full name 'badischeAnilin-und-Soda-Fabrik' (Baden Anilin-Soda-Fabrik). It is a German chemical company and one of the largest chemical plants in the world. The BASF Group has more than 160 wholly-owned subsidiaries or joint ventures in 41 countries in Europe, Asia, and North and South America. The company is headquartered in Ludwigshafen on the Rhine River. It is the largest chemical product base in the world. In June 2018, the Forbes Global 2000 list was announced, and BASF ranked 82nd. The project is part of BASF's 400 million euro step-by-step investment plan for battery materials announced last year. The new base will be based on the initial battery material processing line launched in Harjavarta in 2018 and is scheduled to be put into operation in late 2020. After the completion of the base, such as pure electric vehicles, it can supply battery materials for nearly 300,000 vehicles every year. BASF said that it plans to use local renewable energy sources, such as hydropower, wind power, and biomass power generation, for processing at its new base in Harjavarta. BASF also signed a long-term market-based supply agreement with Nornickel, and Nornickel metal refinery supplies nickel and cobalt raw materials. Nickel and cobalt are currently widely used in the cathode materials of ternary material batteries, among which cobalt is a rare metal. Kenneth Lane, President of BASF's Catalysts Global Business Unit, said: 'Combining the cooperation with Nornickel and the investment in Harjavarta, BASF will create a platform that connects raw material supply, technology and processing to support the rapidly growing electric vehicle market. '