BASF

What they do

BASF is a chemical group headquartered in Ludwigshafen am Rhein. Its portfolio spans Chemicals, Materials, Industrial Solutions, Nutrition & Care, Surface Technologies and Agricultural Solutions. These businesses include petrochemicals, intermediates, performance materials, resins, battery materials and agricultural products. BASF distinguishes between integrated core businesses and standalone businesses with greater operational independence.

The Ludwigshafen site links production facilities, energy flows and logistics through the company's Verbund concept. Rather than treating each plant as an isolated operation, this arrangement connects the movement of materials and energy across the site.

Why it matters

BASF's historical significance includes the industrialisation of ammonia synthesis. In 1908 it agreed to work with Fritz Haber, whose laboratory process combined nitrogen and hydrogen. Carl Bosch led the team responsible for making the reaction work at industrial scale. That required suitable catalysts, a supply of synthesis gas and equipment able to withstand high pressures and temperatures.

The first ammonia synthesis plant began operating at Oppau on 9 September 1913. BASF's history identifies this as the introduction of high-pressure catalysis to the chemical industry. The process made atmospheric nitrogen available for industrial fertiliser production, reducing reliance on natural nitrate deposits.

Products to know

The Haber-Bosch process is the defining historical example. Oppau's ammonia was initially converted into ammonium sulphate fertiliser. Ammonia also became a starting material for nitric acid and downstream products such as urea. BASF's account notes both the agricultural benefits and the use of ammonia-derived materials for munitions during the First World War.

The German angle

Friedrich Engelhorn founded Badische Anilin- & Sodafabrik in Mannheim in 1865. Its factories were built across the Rhine in Ludwigshafen after attempts to buy premises in Mannheim failed. Ludwigshafen remains BASF's headquarters. The company's shares trade on the Frankfurt Stock Exchange, while its present portfolio extends well beyond the dyes with which it began.