suitable to match the full line of
RAL, Pantone and BCS shades
as well as custom and corporate
colors. The expansion will allow the company to move forward with
larger volume commitments.
Sartomer Americas’ Virginia
Plant Passes One Million
Work Hours Without Lost-
Time Incident
Employees at Sartomer Americas’ (a
business unit of Arkema) manufacturing
plant in Chatham, Virginia celebrated a
milestone recently, marking ten years and
more than one million work hours without a lost-time incident. The achievement
highlights Sartomer’s on-going commitment to safety while providing its customers with the high-performance chemical
solutions they need to drive innovation.
This is a significant accomplishment
for any manufacturing facility and is especially notable for Sartomer’s Chatham
manufacturing plant, considering the
large amounts of potentially hazardous
materials being handled on site daily.
“This milestone marks significant
strides in improving the safety culture at
our site, and we will continue improv-
ing our safe behaviors and actions,”
said René Neron, plant manager. “Our
intent is relentless pursuit of reducing
risk to ourselves, our co-workers, and
the local community.”
“We’re very proud of our employees’
dedication to safety and we know it will
remain a top priority,” Neron continued.
“Complacency is safety’s worst enemy.
We understand that we are only as safe
as how safely we perform our next task.”
BASF Helps Automakers
Meet U.S. EPA Greenhouse
Gas Regulations
The United States Environmental
Protection Agency (EPA) recently conducted a mid-term evaluation of light-duty vehicle greenhouse gas standards for
model years 2022-2025, determining that
the criteria can be achieved by relying
primarily on advanced gasoline vehicles.
The vehicles of the future must be more
efficient and have a lower environmental
impact than vehicles today.
As the world’s leading chemical supplier to the automotive industry, BASF
is a key partner in efforts to reduce
CO2 emissions from cars with combustion engines.
BASF produces a number of products
to assist in the reduction of CO2 for the
automotive industry, including:
• Catalysts: BASF develops and mar-
kets emission catalysts to help gaso-
line and diesel engines meet stricter
exhaust standards, allowing for op-
timization of fuel economy and per-
formance. The FWCTM four-way
conversion catalyst combines the
functionality of a three-way conver-
sion catalyst with a filter on a single
component saving weight and space,
and increasing efficiency.
•Coatings: Twenty-five years ago
BASF pioneered waterborne
basecoats for automobiles. With this
product, water replaces most of the
organic solvents to permanently reduce emissions of volatile organic
compounds. In addition, BASF developed an integrated paint process
at the automotive manufacturing
plant that reduces the length of the
production line, reduces CO2 emissions by up to 20 percent, saves energy costs from 15-20 percent and
reduces material consumption.
•Engineering plastics: Lightweight
construction is another key factor in
ensuring sustainable transportation,
today and in the future. Replacing
metal parts with engineered plastic
materials can reduce weight and
improve fuel economy. New applications are constantly in development for today’s automobiles, which
use about 15 percent various plastic materials. Reducing the weight
of a car by 100 pounds cuts fuel
consumption by about 1 percent.
Additionally, engineering plastic solutions using BASF’s Ultramid polyamides provide high performance
under demanding conditions, with
reduced weight.
• Polyurethane and specialty foams:
BASF offers polyurethane solu-
tions for use in virtually every part
of the vehicle: components on and
around the engine, in the vehicle
interior and exterior, in electronic
components, and structural ap-
plications. BASF’s polyurethane
is used in a honeycomb structure
along with corrugated paper and
fiberglass to create lightweight
trunk load floors, package shelves,
and sunshades. This technology
gained prominence due to its high
strength and low weight.
•Lubricants: Energy efficient lubricants from BASF help decrease fuel
consumption by significantly reducing friction and wear in transmissions and axles, while exceeding the
expectations of fill-for-life durability
requirements.
• Fuel additives: BASF’s fuel additives
enhance engine cleanliness, protect the fuel system, and reduce the
emission of harmful substances and
greenhouse gases.
• Pigments: BASF also produces pigments that reflect infrared light.
Integrated in car paint, windows
or interior surfaces, these pigments
help to keep the car cool in the sun,
reducing the energy required for climate control.
• Binders: An increasing number of
car manufacturers have started to
use natural fiber composites for
lightweight components such as
door linings, storage compartments,
and other car interior parts. BASF’s
Acrodur binder lends adhesive and
strengthening properties to various
types of natural fiber and facilitates
environmentally friendly solutions
for car interiors. Natural fiber composites with Acrodur can reduce
weight by up to 20 percent over
natural fiber polypropylene and up
to 40 percent over injection molded
ABS plastic.
•Battery materials: In addition to
improving cars with combustion engines, chemistry contributes greatly
to the electrified vehicle market.
BASF produces advanced battery
materials for lithium-ion batteries,
which play a key role in determining
battery performance, energy density,
service life and safety. CW
