BASF warns aroma ingredients supply will be tight for months due to fire and will focus on biotransformation at Europe’s biggest chemical site

14 Aug 2024 --- BASF declares Force Majeure on deliveries of select vitamin A, vitamin E and carotenoid products as well as some aroma ingredients after a recent leak of an organic solvent led to an explosion and subsequent fire at its site in Ludwigshafen, Germany.

The company clarifies the impact on its Personal Care portfolio: “Due to the incident at the plant in Ludwigshafen, we will face a tight supply over the next few months for two products in our Personal Care portfolio,” a spokesperson at the company tells Personal Care Insights. “We are proactively informing our customers of potential shortages and are taking measures to minimize the impact for them.”

BASF also says it is going toward biotransformation of its (meth)acrylate portfolio and switching its production to bio-based ethyl acrylate (EA) — made in Ludwigshafen — starting in the last quarter of this year.

“We are proactively informing our customers of potential shortages and are taking measures to minimize the impact for them,” says the spokesperson.

Aroma shortage
The specific aroma ingredients affected are rose oxides, ionoes, pryanol, DL-menthol, nerolidol, isophytol R and ethyllinalool.

The company reported no air, water or soil contamination and no product residues were detected.

BASF says it will experience interruptions for its aroma ingredients.Fifteen employees were slightly injured in the incident, all of whom left the hospital the night of the incident. The plant was shut down and is in a safe condition.

“We expect that it will take a longer period of time to restart the affected facility,” Raga Mahmoud, a manufacturer spokesperson, said in a statement.

Phasing out fossil-based EA
BASF’s bio-based EA is produced in Ludwigshafen using bioethanol exclusively as an alcohol source. The new bio-based product’s chemical and technical specifications are identical to the traditional fossil-based version.

“With bio-based EA, we can offer our customers a readily available drop-in solution for many applications. EA is a well-established product that will support our customers in reaching their sustainability goals,” says Dr. Reiner Geier, senior VP Industrial Petrochemicals Europe.

“We also want to give a clear signal to the market that we drive our own sustainability transformation. From Q4 2024 onwards, we will phase out fossil-based EA and exclusively offer bio-based EA going forward.”

By Sabine Waldeck