BASF and Xinjiang Markor Chemical Industry Co., Ltd. (Markor) plan to establish two joint ventures for the production of butanediol (BDO) and polytetrahydrofuran (polytetramethylene ether glycol) in Korla, Xinjiang Uygur autonomous region, Northwest China. The joint venture agreements have already been signed but are subject to further closing conditions and regulatory approvals. The joint venture companies intend to build a plant for the production of BDO and one for polytetrahydrofuran, which are both planned to go on stream in 2015. The annual capacities of the plants located in Korla will be 100,000 tons of BDO and 50,000 tons of polytetrahydrofuran.

Polytetrahydrofuran is primarily used to make elastic spandex fibres for a large variety of textiles, but it also serves as a chemical building block for thermoplastic polyurethanes (TPU). Other applications include thermoplastic polyetheresters, polyetheramides and cast elastomers. BDO is used in the manufacturing of technical plastics, polyurethanes, solvents, electronic chemicals and elastic fibres.