Germany – International Process Plants (IPP), a global leader in the purchase and sale of process plants and equipment, brings the ammonia, methanol and melamine plants at BASF’s Verbund site in Ludwigshafen on the market. The plants became available through the restructuring BASF announced in 2023. BASF will continue to produce ammonia and methanol at other plants in Ludwigshafen.
The agreement includes the integrated production assets for ammonia (380,000 metric tons/year), methanol (165,000 metric tons/year) and melamine (51,000 metric tons/year). IPP is offering these world-class production units for relocation and sale to qualified buyers with projects for such assets who are looking for opportunities for lower capex and shorter project execution timelines.
The 380,000 metric tons/year ammonia plant consumes 0.97 Tm3 of natural gas as feedstock and fuel per ton of ammonia. The 51,000 metric tons/year melamine plant consumes as little as 2.6 tons of urea crystal per ton of melamine and has a low energy requirement of 0.27 Tm3 of natural gas per ton of melamine. The methanol unit is a synthesis loop that can be used in a green methanol project with available green feedstocks.
“BASF is partnering with IPP on the divestment of the idled ammonia, methanol, and melamine plants to ensure that these well-maintained assets are sustained for chemical production. The units were in operation through 2023 and only shut down in the context of the structural adaptation of our production setup at the Ludwigshafen site. The sale represents a more sustainable and economic approach to the deployment of these production units, and with a net benefit to the global process industry,” said Ruediger von Watzdorf, Senior Vice President Technology, BASF Monomers division.
