BASF to expand capacity in Brazil

BASF is going to expand its production capacity for waterborne coatings in the Demarchi Coatings Site, located in São Paulo state, Brazil. The €2M investment will increase its capacity of both waterborne primer and basecoats. The expansion is expected to be finished in early 2014.

The primer smoothes out uneven surface irregularities, offers stone-chip protection and protects the e-coat from UV radiation. The basecoat lends the body its colour, its effects and its aesthetic appearance.

"Increasing waterborne coatings production capacity, we aim to meet our customers’ demand, that has been driven by new automotive manufacturing plants in Brazil and also by the tendency for waterborne technology instead of solventborne,” said Antonio Carlos Lacerda, Senior VP of the Functional Solutions Segment and Infrastructure for BASF South America.
This technology is eco-efficient because water replaces most of the organic solvents that are used in solventborne coatings thus reducing emissions of VOCs.

Energy consumption and CO2 emissions are reduced by up to 20%.