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BASF expands sustainable North American plasticizer portfolio with ISCC PLUS certification
HOUSTON, TX, February 11, 2025 – BASF is now offering biomass-balanced (BMB)[1] and Ccycled®[2] grades of its plasticizer portfolio from production sites in Pasadena, Texas and Cornwall, Ontario, to customers. The sites and mass-balanced products have been certified according to the International Sustainability and Carbon Certification (ISCC) PLUS scheme.
Customers now have access to Palatinol® DOTP Advantage 50 (BMB) and Palatinol® DOTP Ccycled® products. The BMB approach enables BASF to support its customers’ sustainability goals through the replacement of fossil resources with renewable raw materials, resulting in products with a lower CO2 footprint than their conventional equivalents. Through the ChemCycling® process using the mass balance approach, BASF utilizes feedstocks derived from plastic waste to provide circular solutions with its Ccycled® product portfolio.
Palatinol® TOTM and TOTM-I (tri-2-ethylhexyl trimellitate) products are important plasticizers for wire and cable insulation, and the construction, automotive and medical markets. With the new ISCC PLUS certification, BASF now adds Palatinol® TOTM Advantage 50 and Palatinol® TOTM-I Advantage 50 to its portfolio of BMB plasticizers.
For both the BMB and Ccycled® products, the quality and performance of the corresponding end products remain unchanged, which is important benefit since these plasticizers are used in several regulated applications. For example, Palatinol® DOTP (di-2-ethylhexyl terephthalate) from BASF is a leading alternative plasticizer for the flexible vinyl (PVC) market, and it has received broad food contact clearance from the United States Food and Drug Administration (FDA) for use in flexible vinyl and other plastic products. The conventional BASF product already makes a significant contribution to sustainability due to its favorable toxicological profile, which is essential for customers who must supply products to meet material health requirements. Additionally, it has been given the ChemFORWARD SAFER™ designation and is listed on CleanGredients based on SaferChoice criteria from the United States Environmental Protection Agency (EPA).
“With these drop-in solutions, our customers receive a product with a reduced CO2 footprint compared to conventional materials or one that saves fossil resources by using a feedstock made from plastic waste; in addition, no technical changes are required on their part,” said Patrick Harmon, Industry Manager for Industrial Petrochemicals, BASF Corporation. “Reducing the use of fossil resources, lowering greenhouse gas emissions, and reducing plastic waste is highly relevant for today’s manufacturers and consumers.”
“BASF is excited to offer these new mass-balanced products in addition to our existing portfolio of sustainable plasticizers,” said Mark Napiany, Business Director for Plasticizers and Oxo-C5 Alcohols, BASF Corporation. “Our portfolio, which now includes the new mass-balanced products, enables our customers to meet sustainability needs of the markets they serve.”
Ccycled®, ChemCycling® and Palatinol® are registered trademarks of BASF SE. ChemFORWARD SAFER is a registered trademark of Healthy Building Network.
About BASF
BASF Corporation, headquartered in Florham Park, New Jersey, is the North American affiliate of BASF SE, Ludwigshafen, Germany. BASF has approximately 16,000 employees in North America and had sales of $20.5 billion in 2023. For more information about BASF’s North American operations, visit www.basf.com/us.
At BASF, we create chemistry for a sustainable future. We combine economic success with environmental protection and social responsibility. Around 112,000 employees in the BASF Group contribute to the success of our customers in nearly all sectors and almost every country in the world. Our portfolio comprises six segments: Chemicals, Materials, Industrial Solutions, Surface Technologies, Nutrition & Care and Agricultural Solutions. BASF generated sales of €68.9 billion in 2023. BASF shares are traded on the stock exchange in Frankfurt (BAS) and as American Depositary Receipts (BASFY) in the United States. Further information at www.basf.com.
[1] Biomass balance method (BMB): Fossil raw materials required for the manufacture of BASF products are replaced with renewable feedstock along the integrated production chain. The corresponding share of renewable material is attributed to the specific sales product via a certified mass balance approach. Production methods of this kind save fossil resources and reduce CO2 emissions at the same time. Renewable feedstock is not traceable in the BASF product.
[2] Conventional fossil raw materials required to manufacture BASF products are replaced with recycled feedstock from the chemical recycling of plastic waste along BASF’s integrated production chain. The corresponding share of recycled feedstock, e.g. pyrolysis oil, is attributed to the specific Ccycled® product via a certified mass balance approach. BASF sites and Ccycled® products are third-party certified according to internationally recognized certification schemes like REDcert2 and ISCC PLUS and meet the definitions by ISO 22095:2020. The recycled feedstock is not measurable in the BASF mass balance product. The cradle-to-gate PCF is calculated according to TfS Methodology using both a cut-off approach and an Upstream System Expansion (USE) approach. USE accounts for a credit for the displaced waste treatment from the first life cycle (e.g. incineration), thereby reducing the product carbon footprint compared to the equivalent conventional fossil product.
