BASF SE (Ludwigshafen, Germany; www.basf.com) will build a new plant for its chelating agent Trilon M (methylglycinediacetic acid) at Evonik’s Theodore, Ala. site. The investment will be about $90 million and create around 20 additional jobs. The new production facility is planned to start up in the second half of 2015.
BASF’s innovative chelating agent is readily biodegradable and improves the cleaning effect of detergents and cleaners in home care and industrial and institutional (I&I) cleaning applications. It is a preferred alternative to phosphates in high-performance, ecological dishwashing detergents.
The investment in Theodore, Ala., will free up capacity in Ludwigshafen, Germany, to serve the increasing European demand for Trilon M triggered by the phosphate regulation for consumer automatic dishwashing detergents which is expected in 2017. In the United States, phosphates were already banned from consumer automatic dishwashing detergents in 16 states in 2010.
BASF brought a new world-scale plant expansion for Trilon M on-stream in Ludwigshafen in 2010. Trilon M was approved by the Environmental Protection Agency’s (EPA) Design for the Environment (DfE) certification program in 2011. BASF currently manufactures its chelating agents at its Ludwigshafen site, in Lima, Ohio and in Guaratinguetá, Brazil. Trilon M is available worldwide in liquid and various solid forms.