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Interlinkage

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Interlinkage

BASF gets involved in global initiatives and networks for sustainable development at an early stage, often as a founding member. However, it also maintains and institutionalizes dialog with its stakeholders on-site.

Kleidung mit UV-Schutz, Bestandteil von Gas-Sensoren oder im Gehäuse von Laptops – die Anwendungsmöglichkeiten für diese winzigen Fäden sind vielfältig: Im Moment sind die anorganischen Nanofasern aber noch Gegenstand der Forschung in Ludwigshafen. Das Besondere an ihnen: Sie sind mit weniger als 300 Nanometer Durchmesser 1000-mal feiner als ein Menschenhaar. Unter einem normalen Lichtmikroskop sind sie damit nicht mehr sichtbar. Das Rasterelektronenmikroskop hingegen kann sie abbilden. Hergestellt werden die Nanofasern durch eine etwas in Vergessenheit geratene, aber nun neu entdeckte Methode: das Elektrospinnen. Hierbei wird ein gelöstes Polymer zusammen mit einem Salz auf einer Nadelspitze in ein starkes elektrisches Feld eingebracht. Es formen sich Fasern, die in Richtung der Gegenelektrode fliegen. Dabei verdampft das Lösungsmittel, und die Faser wird zusätzlich gestreckt. Im Anschluss folgt die sogenannte Kalzinierung: Die Faser wird erhitzt, und so werden das Lösemittel sowie das Polymer entfernt. Mit den so hergestellten anorganischen Nanofasern können die Forscher Kunststoffen besondere Eigenschaften, wie beispielsweise einen UV-Schutz verleihen. Das wäre besonders interessant für Outdoor-Kleidung und Bademode, ist aber noch Zukunftsmusik. Abdruck honorarfrei. Copyright by BASF. Clothes with UV protection, gas sensor components or laptop casings – there are a wide variety of applications for these tiny fi bers. Currently, however, inorganic nanofi bers are still being researched in Ludwigshafen. What’s so special about them? With a diameter of less than 300 nanometers, they are a thousand times fi ner than a human hair. That means they are no longer visible under a normal optical microscope – whereas they are under a scanning electron microscope. Nanofibers are manufactured using a somewhat forgotten but recently rediscovered method called electrospinning. This is where a salt-containing polymer solution is loaded into a syringe needle connected to a hig
Exchange With Expertise
The collaboration of various social groups and the pooling of their expertise is important when it comes to sustainability. The UN Global Compact co-founded by BASF in 2000 is just one example of this.
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On Equal Terms

BASF has encouraged the open dialog with citizens at its locations all over the world with neighborhood forums since 1989. These are designed to promote intensive, permanent, and institutionalized exchange.

BASF set up its first neighborhood forums, or Community Advisory Panels (CAPs), in 1989. It was no coincidence that these first forums were in the United States, as they were a regulatory requirement there. As CAPs proved themselves as a bridge between citizens and operations here, the model was launched in other locations, too: In 1994, BASF established its first CAP outside the United States at its site in Altamira, Mexico.

This was followed by a neighborhood forum in Tarragona, Spain, just one year later, and one in Ludwigshafen in 2000. BASF initiated its first CAP in Asia at the Yeosu site in Korea in 2002, which was also the first neighborhood forum of a chemical company in the country. During the same year, BASF also developed the first standards for the neighborhood forums, which stipulated a balanced group of participants and regular meetings among other things. These were revised most recently in 2017.